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HouseMix Orchid Mix kraft bag, front label
Plant-specific blend

Orchid Potting Mix

A bark-forward, fast-drying blend built for moth orchids and the rest of the epiphytic orchid family. Keeps roots oxygenated between waterings, holds enough humidity at the surface to mimic a tree canopy, and skips the dense organic matter that drowns orchids in generic potting soil.

Ideal for

  • Phalaenopsis (Moth Orchid)
  • Dendrobium
  • Oncidium
  • Cattleya
$6.99

How would you like it?

Small-batch mixed
Free over $35
30-day guarantee

What orchid roots actually want

Air. Moisture. Steady, slow nutrition.

Most generic potting soil was built for outdoor garden beds — heavy, fine, and designed to hold water under sun and wind. Indoors, that same mix slowly suffocates the roots it's supposed to feed.

Almost all air at the root — orchid roots photosynthesize and need light and oxygen

Fast drainage so water moves through in seconds, not minutes

A short moisture pulse at watering, then a real dry-down

Slightly acidic pH around 5.5–6.5

What’s in the bag

5 ingredients

One forest floor, rebuilt in a bag

Each component does a specific job — together they recreate the soft, breathable, slowly-feeding ground these plants evolved in.

Chunky Bark

Chunky Bark

Improves aeration and drainage, mimics natural epiphytic environments for aroids and orchids.

Sphagnum Moss

Sphagnum Moss

Excellent moisture retention and aeration, antimicrobial properties, great for epiphytes.

Pumice

Pumice

Improves drainage and aeration, especially beneficial for succulents and cacti.

Charcoal

Charcoal

Adsorbs salts, fertilizer residue, and bark-breakdown byproducts before they build up around roots. A cleanup ingredient, not a food source — we use it in Orchid and Hoya mixes.

Worm Castings

Worm Castings

Provides slow-release nutrients and beneficial microbes, improves soil structure.

Why generic potting soil fails indoor plants

It’s not you. It’s the soil

Most bagged potting mix is built for outdoor garden beds — dense, fine, designed to hold water for weeks under sun and wind. Indoors, that same mix slowly suffocates the roots it’s supposed to feed.

Yellow, mushy roots

The mix held water against the root velamen too long — roots can't breathe and the rot starts inside.

Wrinkled, limp leaves

Dead roots underground. The plant can't pull water up anymore, no matter how often you water.

No new aerial roots

Compacted mix sealed off the airflow orchids climb into. Roots stop reaching.

Bud blast (flowers drop before opening)

Watering swing or temperature shock. A stable, breathable mix buffers small environmental swings.

Black spots on roots

Fungal pressure from a damp, dense mix that never dried out fully between waterings.

Why this isn’t outdoor potting soil

Built for indoor life

Outdoor garden soil is built for heavy beds, constant wind, and direct sun, with enough drainage for daily downpours. Ours is built for the opposite — low light, dry indoor air, and the inconsistent watering schedules of real life. Different problem, different mix.

Indoor-tuned

Engineered around low airflow, filtered light, and indoor humidity — not outdoor weather.

Peat-free

We use coco coir instead of peat moss. Same moisture retention, no peat-bog destruction.

Small-batch

Mixed by hand in small batches, not blown out of an industrial line.

Roots need air

Most houseplantsDon’t die fast.They drown slowly.

Soggy soil suffocates roots. Without air and drainage, rot creeps in from the bottom up.

Don’t do this
01Soil + rhythm

Use an open mix.
Water on rhythm.

Use a fast-draining mix so water moves through and pulls fresh air back to the roots — and water on the dry-down rhythm, not a weekly calendar.

Our Orchid Mix is tuned to this dry-down curve — moisture falling from just-watered to bone dry. Re-water when the line crosses the shaded band.

Just watered
Bone dry
Water around here

Stretches in low-light winter rooms; tightens in warm, bright summer. Soaking the bark in the sink for ten minutes beats a quick top-pour.

02The pot

Choose a pot that actually drains.

Even a perfect mix drowns in a pot with no escape. Keep the plant in its nursery pot — the one with drainage holes — and drop it into your decorative pot.

Why drop-in pots work

HouseMix pots — coming soon

Before you buy

Everything else you need

Common questions

What people ask before buying

  • The small (1.5 qt) bag fully repots one 6″ orchid pot or two 4″ pots. The large (7 qt) handles a 10″ pot, three 6″ pots, or six 4″ pots.

Sized to your pot

Pair it with a repot kit

Get this mix sized to your orchid's pot.

Skip the math. Pick the pot diameter and we’ll send the right amount of orchid mix, plus an optional nursery pot and compostable mess mat.

Build a repot kit

From $6.99 · full kit add-on +$6.

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Each one is tuned for a different kind of root. Built the same way.

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