Many people ask me which medium is appropiate for planting cattleya orchid. Nomally, each farm uses different mediums. Nobody can’t tell which one is the best but we have an idea for choosing your own appropiate medium.

This is a comparison between charcoal and coconut husk chips. This article write from my experiences about growing cattleya orchids in Thailand .
These 2 pictures show the orchids that plant in different mediums. I give it the same factors, except mediums.

The first picture show the orchid that plant with charcoal.
The pseudobulbs are wrinked and not healthy.

This picture show the orchid that plant with coconut husk chips.
The pseudobulbs are nice and plump.

Summarize

The coconut husk can keep the moisture more than the charcoal.
So the medium that appropiate for planting cattleya should have a good quality about keep the moisture.
(However planting orchid is depend on many factors)