Plant Question

[mysnakesau]

I found a dead mouse, fat and stinky with a gut full of maggots in my bag of orchid potting mix. I have removed the rotting corpse and spread the mix out on the floor of my shed to try and get rid of the dead smell. Will the decomposing thingies have ruined my orchid mix? I don't want to use it if its only going to kill my orchids - I'd rather buy a new bag, but also don't like un-necessary wastage.

[Jeffa]

Should be fine. Even if the mouse was killed with a poison, I doubt any harm would come to the orchids. In saying this I would'nt like anyone to pysically come in contact with the mix for a while. (use gloves)

[borntobnude]

Dont buy commercial potting mix for orchids find a local old person ( grower of orchids ) that makes their own and buy from them . If you were in sydney i would offer my father inlaw's address

[mysnakesau]

Thank you Jeffa and bornto... Ha! I would never have thought of using gloves to handle to mix. Was certainly great advice there. Thank you

Borntobnude, are you talking about general potting mixes, or the commercial orchid mixes? My mum has a rundown shadehouse that was especially designed for orchids. I will get tips from her for potting, to get the best results. I think she mostly used bark, and had a couple of different orchid feeders - one for flowering time, and one for every other time. I have only just bought my first orchid, so have lots to learn. I never learnt a thing from my mum because I at that time I was sick to death of hearing about orchids and wouldn't have anything to do with them....lol...But now I love gardening, and want to add some orchids to the outdoors and indoors, too.

[borntobnude]

Hi kathy

talking about your average bagged orchid mix's . The father in law makes his own withall sorts of things like peanut shell, coir , perlite etc and then has seasonal fertilizers for growth ,flowering and dormancy . I dont get into it too much as all i have to do is mention that one needs repotting or fertilizing and it's done i think you should just ask your mum and you may get the same results ..good luck

[Bluetongue1]

You could have potted an orchid complete with mouse and maggots and all it would have done was produce a bit of fertiliser for the orchid, a few annoying flies and a smelly pot until the bacterial break down was complete. It certainly won’t hurt your orchids. I would simply extract the carcass to get rid of the smell and not worry about doing anything else. If you were the least bit worried about residual smell, a week outside in the shade house would get rid of that. Bottom line – you have zero to worry about.

Blue