Growing Mounted Outdoor Orchids in Humid Climate

[miss.gypsea]

Hello All,

I am brand new to orchids!

I live in Tulum Mexico, current humidity 74%.

5 days ago I had a variety of established wild orchids that were mounted to wood pieces delivered and attached to various trees. The gardener suggested that I water the orchids every day with a spray bottle for 20 days, then cut back to twice/week. Is the initial 20 days to encourage the roots to grow and to attach to the trees? With this kind of humidity should I really be watering every day?

I don't want to overwater them, but is this not a concern being that they are outside and not potted?

[WaterWitchin]

Welcome to Orchid Board Miss.Gypsea! Yes, water every day. Correct, because they're outside and mounted, not potted. I used to grow a lot of mounts, and I can only grow outside about half the year. Humidity here during those months is usually 70% and higher. We have more days of high heat than y'all do. I watered every day, even with established mounts. You may find you'll need to water more often than twice a week, even after 20 days. Depends on the orchid, the wind, the temperature, etc. Tulum is a beautiful area. I was there once about 40 years ago. Lucky you!

[Ray]

You literally cannot overwater a mounted plant.

[miss.gypsea]

Interesting! Thank you both. Maybe I am underwatering them then if that's true that you can't overwater. Perhaps I should be more liberal with the water. I was watering quite sparingly, although daily. These particular orchids were also plucked straight from the jungle and are very mature and came with a lot of "imperfections" on the leaves so that is also making it hard for me to decipher what, if anything, they are reacting to.

[WaterWitchin]

More likely underwatering.

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by miss.gypsea

These particular orchids were also plucked straight from the jungle and are very mature

This could also be a large part of the problem. A mature wild orchid that is well established and growing happily in its tree, that is then removed, (and probably had most of its roots destroyed in the process) is going to have a hard time reestablishing itself and could take a while to do so if it doesn’t die completely. Definitely keep up with the watering but if these end up dying, you could always choose some hybrids that are super hardy or even look for some nursery propagated species that are native to your area and should be readily available. Those will be a lot easier to get established and you might be more successful with something like that. There is less “babying” involved. I haven’t been to Tulum in several years but you live in a fabulous area for growing orchids outdoors!