Charred wood mounts-good or bad for orchids?

[Russell 99]

I was able to get two blocks of wood, the shorter ones are turpentine and are very hard ;the larger one is unknown but is quite fragrant.

I was planning to mount some orchids on them but I'm unsure if the orchid roots will really attach to them. Planing to mount a bulbophyllum, lusia and propax(conchidium) species on to them.
I've used chared wood chips with orchids such as Dendrobiums, cattleyas and oncidiums and the roots attach pretty well, but since I'm dealing with 3 completely different types of orchids I'm not sure how they'll react to the mounts especially the conchidium.

Any ideas would be really helpful, thanks!

[SG in CR]

In my experience fresh charcoal can burn or irritate new root tips. Once a bio-film develops over it everything seems fine. I imagine if you spray these down with some dilute fertilizer and molasses and leave them out in the weather for a bit that bio film should develop quickly.
One thing that might be a concern is if the wood is very resinous. I've found some orchids are kind of sensitive to that.

[Ray]

By turpentine, I assume they are pine, so I would recommend against using them. Turpentine is an ingredient in the resins the trees produce to fend off competing plant growth.

Maybe if composted, burnt, or otherwise aged, the volatile compounds will be degraded, it I don’t know that, one way or the other.

[DirtyCoconuts]

if it were me, i would split the three little ones down the middle and then aggresively scrub them with a wire brush. then id toss them in a bucket and let them sit in water for a day or two, rinse and repeat and then leave them in the sun for a week to dry and get biofilm


after that i would mount anything to them


the long one looks weird and i cant tell if it is charred or has bark or what so i have no advice on that




FYI- i have broken many rules of mounting and they generally work out as long as you keep the plant wet and let it dry and repeat.

Ive used unwashed drift wood, PT treated wood, wood i found at abandoned construction sites and the only wood that really did not work was pallet wood that i later found out was very toxic from the codes on it and i then paid $15 for proper disposal of and never picked up another pallet LOL

i just recommend you dont try a weird wood on a precious orchid you cannot replace. i use a lowes Phal for all first time mount experiments......mostly

[Russell 99]

Originally Posted by SG in CR

In my experience fresh charcoal can burn or irritate new root tips. Once a bio-film develops over it everything seems fine. I imagine if you spray these down with some dilute fertilizer and molasses and leave them out in the weather for a bit that bio film should develop quickly.
One thing that might be a concern is if the wood is very resinous. I've found some orchids are kind of sensitive to that.

Thanks, I'll use a different type of mount for now. It wasn't resinous at all, completely dry and it doesn't give off any off smell.

[Russell 99]

Originally Posted by Ray

By turpentine, I assume they are pine, so I would recommend against using them. Turpentine is an ingredient in the resins the trees produce to fend off competing plant growth.

Maybe if composted, burnt, or otherwise aged, the volatile compounds will be degraded, it I don’t know that, one way or the other.

Thanks, I've decided to use a tamarind branch as a mount for now as it is a host tree for some natural orchids here.

BTW this is what the locals refer to as turpentine (photo attached below).

[Russell 99]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

if it were me, i would split the three little ones down the middle and then aggresively scrub them with a wire brush. then id toss them in a bucket and let them sit in water for a day or two, rinse and repeat and then leave them in the sun for a week to dry and get biofilm


after that i would mount anything to them


the long one looks weird and i cant tell if it is charred or has bark or what so i have no advice on that




FYI- i have broken many rules of mounting and they generally work out as long as you keep the plant wet and let it dry and repeat.

Ive used unwashed drift wood, PT treated wood, wood i found at abandoned construction sites and the only wood that really did not work was pallet wood that i later found out was very toxic from the codes on it and i then paid $15 for proper disposal of and never picked up another pallet LOL

i just recommend you dont try a weird wood on a precious orchid you cannot replace. i use a lowes Phal for all first time mount experiments......mostly

Thanks, I'll use a tamarind branch for now as it hosts some natural orchids in the area, the long one is charred it also has a strong odour. I have added a reference pic of the turpentine tree the locals referred to(left pic) . The lower areas of this tree where the bark remains intact is pretty mossy and has some vegetation but since this tree sheds its bark constantly and is very smooth nothing grows on the upper part. We have pines in the area too and not even a single grass grows under those ones. Pic has been added below

[estación seca]

Those trees look like they might be Eucalyptus. Many have toxins in the bark that kill epiphytes, and plants on the ground where bark and leaves are shed. I wouldn't use it for mounting without first testing on a less valuable plant.