companion planting

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

BTW, I don't recommend growing live moss with most Phals, it's most likely not going to work.

Phals usually grow on trees that are devoid of moss. The moisture comes from the swamp water the trees the Phals grow on wicks up along the tree trunk, the precipitation, and humidity.

The only one that I think would work would be Phal appendiculata.

[Big B]

Any recommended companions for vandas? Have you tried the club mosses?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

By clubmoss, do you mean Selaginella spp.?

No. I don't even know where to begin.

Selaginella is very diverse. I don't know which species you'd be interested in growing.

I only have Selaginella krausianna at the moment. I believe this one originates from South Africa (not sure). Where the habitat is and which orchid it grows along with I have no idea. Perhaps it would make a great companion plant with Disa uniflora, idk.

Unless...

You're talking about plants like Lycopodiella spp. Then I have no idea completely. These are so rare in cultivation, I wouldn't even know where to begin looking for them. From what I also understand, they're pretty expensive (if memory serves me right, I only came across one seller who sold these types of clubmosses).

Generally speaking, if you know where they grow and if they grow alongside other plants. If you imitate the environment to the best of your ability, and you can get a hold of the same plants they grow with in the wild...

They most likely can grow together. At the moment, I'm not sure about the Lycopods other than Selaginella spp.

As for Vandas, it usually grows on trees barren of moss as well.

The pictures I've seen of Vandas in the wild always show them on the branches or trunks of trees with a mass of roots covering the branches or trunks. Hardly anything else grows on it.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I must mention...

Again, "clubmosses" are not true mosses. They're allied to ferns.

They just superficially look like true mosses.

Mosses are non-vascular plants with no true roots, no true vascular leaves, and a non-vascular stem.

Clubmosses are vascular plants.

[Cym Ladye]

Philip,

I am enjoying your accurate and illucidating info on what most hobbyists call "moss". In regard to the "Spanish moss" I have to share a story about it co-habiting with my Cymbidium collection in Ca.

About 25 years ago, a friend who had property on the gulf coast of Louisiana, gathered a half refrigerator box full of live moss blown down from his trees after hurricane winds and which would have been burned. He sent it on to me and it has thrived! I hung it from lath house cross beams, greenhouse supports, low tree branches and shared a lot with my friends. Were it not for the birds and the squirrels, it would grow more than it does off the trees. In the lath house, I remove the dead back "moss" each year and it is always fun to see the tiny yellow flowers on the new live strands. I primarily use it in orchid show displays as a temporary covering of the bulbs and partial hiding of the pot. I remove it at the end of the show and rehang in the lath house.

I was once told that it is a "poor man's orchid humidistat" as it needs humidity generally above 50% and good air circulation. I am always sharing small pieces with new growers having problems with new greenhouses. If it dies, they need to increase their humidity.

There is also a love story about this "moss" and it's growth habit and appearance in nature. I will see if I can find it.

CL

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

Philip,

I am enjoying your accurate and illucidating info on what most hobbyists call "moss". In regard to the "Spanish moss" I have to share a story about it co-habiting with my Cymbidium collection in Ca.

About 25 years ago, a friend who had property on the gulf coast of Louisiana, gathered a half refrigerator box full of live moss blown down from his trees after hurricane winds and which would have been burned. He sent it on to me and it has thrived! I hung it from lath house cross beams, greenhouse supports, low tree branches and shared a lot with my friends. Were it not for the birds and the squirrels, it would grow more than it does off the trees. In the lath house, I remove the dead back "moss" each year and it is always fun to see the tiny yellow flowers on the new live strands. I primarily use it in orchid show displays as a temporary covering of the bulbs and partial hiding of the pot. I remove it at the end of the show and rehang in the lath house.

I was once told that it is a "poor man's orchid humidistat" as it needs humidity generally above 50% and good air circulation. I am always sharing small pieces with new growers having problems with new greenhouses. If it dies, they need to increase their humidity.

There is also a love story about this "moss" and it's growth habit and appearance in nature. I will see if I can find it.

CL

Thank you!

This is a great story.

I'd love to hear about the love story behind the Spanish "Moss".

[Big B]

Thanks for all the time and effort you are putting into answering my questions. It is much appreciated. I guess things have progressed a little faster in areas like lighting and toxic materials then they have in understanding plant communities and companion planting. Oh well, one step at a time.

What types of plants would one expect to find growing along side phrags and paphs in the wild? Where would be the best place to look for this type of information? Thanks again for your time and sharing your knowledge.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by Big B

Thanks for all the time and effort you are putting into answering my questions. It is much appreciated. I guess things have progressed a little faster in areas like lighting and toxic materials then they have in understanding plant communities and companion planting. Oh well, one step at a time.

Definitely one step at a time. I don't know if a lot of people really bothered too much about this.

I do remember that there was an old posting here where someone had told me about the use of clovers as companion plants. But I don't know the details.

In the orchid world, it is only very recently that certain habitat details about where some of these orchid species come from are coming to the forefront.

I feel that the myth of species orchids being harder to grow than hybrids is slowly being re-examined nowadays. Hopefully everything will be put in the proper perspective.

Originally Posted by Big B

What types of plants would one expect to find growing along side phrags and paphs in the wild? Where would be the best place to look for this type of information? Thanks again for your time and sharing your knowledge.

First of all, it depends on the Paph and the Phrag.

I can only speak about some of the Paphs and Phrags that are found on limestone cliffs and rocks.

Usually with the calcicole Paphs, I see pictures of them hanging on the cliff faces with some sort of reed or grass, since I'm not familiar with the other vegetation, it's hard for me to say exactly what they are.

The calcicole Phrags I usually see in in-situ pictures are usually found growing with moss and some ferns.

These pics are rare, but you can find them on the web. Do a search on Flickr or do a Google Image search. There are even books that show you.

They're not easy to find, so good luck.

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Big B

Thanks for all the time and effort you are putting into answering my questions. It is much appreciated. I guess things have progressed a little faster in areas like lighting and toxic materials then they have in understanding plant communities and companion planting. Oh well, one step at a time.

Beyond the use of live mosses on mounted orchids (and you could probably even include live spagnum in pots of low to no fertiliser orchids as well), companion planting is generally not common with orchids. In so far as true companion planting (as opposed to simply co-planting two plants in a pot) I have heard of some discussion about the benefits of planting terrestrial orchids with host plants as a means to maintain mycorrhizal fungi. One specific example I remember is of an Australian grower who apparently had good results growing Caleana major, which can be difficult to maintain for more than a few years, with Centrolepis (it may have been C. stigosa but don't quote me on that). I have also heard of other host plant/orchid coplantings (eg Rhizanthella re-established under Melaleuca uncianata trees and similar stories for other saprophytes such as Dipodiums but the Caleana/Centrolepis example is the only one I could actually confirm. Of course, you're not going to find Caleana or Centrolepis in Canada so this is all probably just useless trivia for you.

[Andrew]

Not really companion plant but more along the lines of co-planting: I once brought a pot containing Pterostylis Nodding Grace, Drosera whittakeri, Drosera auriculata and a Austrostipa sp to my local carnivorous plant society meeting. One of the other member mentioned he grew Nepenthes in a pot with an epiphytic orchid. I can't remember which epiphyte he grew (he grew carnivorous plants and I'm not really interested enough in any orchids that grow under Nep conditions to ask which one). Apparently they both grew well together, though. No doubt a lot of the moderate water, medium light, low to low-medium fertilizer epiphytes would perform well coplanted with Nepenthes. Nepenthes don't have a particularly strong root system so competition for rootspace wouldn't be much of an issue.