Off-balance Palaenopsis

[cb977]

[philoserenus]

from a very naturalistic point of view, the plant is just doing wat it would do in the wild. chances are u're gonna see more an upsidedown phal attached to a tree trunk than a rightside up on in the wild. all itz doing is just that. u could just cut the stem and pot it up again, but in the end in a few years, itz gonna start doing that again.

if i lived in a place where my orchids would survive being mounted, i'd do that. orchids are best when left to do their own stuff. seeing that the roots arent that shriveled, im thinking the humidity of the place is good. so i say mount it, especially when all the new roots coming out too

[Ross]

Originally Posted by Rob Clack

This is really great! When Candice said to mount it, I wasn't really sure what she meant, but all the photos and discussion have clarified that. I'm quite fired up about the idea of turning it from a pot plant into an epiphyte!

I've heard Shakkai say humidity is generally not a problem over your way . If this is true, you might try a Vanda basket with a bit of New Zealand sphagum for moisture retion (not too much) and let most of roots hang out in air. It would closely mimic nature where they tend to grow on tree limbs and, perhaps, rocks.

[shakkai]

A lot depends on the type of heating system, of course. I have radiant heat which doesn't decrease the ambient humidity (but causes condensation on all of the windows!). If Rob has force air heating, he'll naturally have lower humidity in the house.

With all of the wet weather we've had this summer, ambient RH has been above 70% most days....