Mounting and Baskets? General Questions

[Island Girl]

This site explains it pretty well, about cork, and shows what it looks like Cork Orchid Mount

I have a few Phals in baskets ( I grow outside in the summer, & inside in the winter) Its really hot & humid here in the summer. I like having my plants dry really fast, and watering often. Sphag in a wooden basket, is really good, I prob water every 2-3 days. I have a Phal (gig. x LD's Bear Queen) in a basket w/ sphag (loosely packed - just enough to hold it in) that has started 7 new roots, and restarted 3-4 old ones... It's loving it! It wasn't doing anything (other than growing a new leaf) before I repotted it into the basket.

Just try a basket, and see how it goes, if the orchid, or you don't like it, you can always switch back You can use bark, or sphag in the basket, I use both, one has sphag, one has bark, one has sphag/bark mix... etc.

EDIT: I also have many that are mounted, and will be mounting more very soon (on both cork,& tree fern). Will also be switching more to baskets (my test run orchids are loving it, and I am too )

[Discus]

The other posters have covered this topic quite well, but I'll add some of my own thoughts too

Some orchids simply do better mounted; potted orchids are however generally "lower maintenance" (if you can believe that). Mounted orchids need dedicated attention as they dry out quite fast- you may need to water some of them three or more times a day in midsummer, depending on the plant and your local environment, whereas most potted things go 3-7 (or more) days between watering quite happily.

I really like orchids to be mounted (aesthetically and emotionally) where practical, either straight onto branches, or in baskets for those that need a bit more moisture than a stick will typically provide (or whose growth habit is more basket-y than stick-y, like stanhopeas, vandas and the like).

There are a number of media you can use to mount orchids - pretty much any porous or semi-pourous substrate will do (non-porous substrates are generally not things roots like too much), although some will obviously be better than others (due to aesthetics, mount longevity, suitability for the plant etc). There are natural (sticks, rocks, coconut shells, cork, coir, tree fern etc) and artificial options (baskets, hygrolon/aquamat epiweb/ecoweb, ceramic etc).

A few years ago, my girlfriend bought me some neat coir planters meant for terraria; I finally got around to using one to plant out some angraecoids a while back; the "pockets" are filled with hydroton, and the orchids mounted on there (with fishing line) with some sphagnum for extra moisture - they seem very happy on there, and one of them has thrown out something like 8 spikes, and the plant I moved on there while in spike didn't complain one bit. I hot melt glue-gunned them onto plastic cutting boards to stop the wall behind getting too damp. I have a second one with tillandsias on it too.

In terms of physical attachment, you can use anything really - old stockings, fishing line, string, cotton thread - just take it off once the orchid has established.

If you find that the plants are drying out too fast (many of mine did) you can "improve" your mounts by doing things like adding a moisture retentive layer either under or over the roots (e.g. sphagnum). Ideally, you'd improve your growing conditions, but my wife says "no" to running a misting system inside the house, and my boss says "no" to going home 5 times a day to water the plants...

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[Lorraine]

There is a lot of good info above for you to think abut. I use cork bark when ever I can.

When I first started mounting I found that fishing line would work on some mounts but it was harder on others especially larger pieces of bark or driftwood. Problem solved by drilling a hole on either side of the cork/wood after I figured out the best placement of the orchid. I used 16 or 18 gauge soft brass wire to pass through the holes holding the plant firmly in place. Twist in the back and tweek the wire a little at a time in the back if it was still loose. Regular wire can sometimes be to rigid to work with on smaller pieces of cork to drill through but you can make "U" shape pins and carefully push them over a bulb or two into the cork to fasten. I use needle nose pliers to assist that part. Depending on the size of the pant I might have to use 2 wires. Adding a little moss tucked in a few spots helped hold some moisture until it firmly took hold. I never have to remove the wire. The fishing line method can be tricky and if you remove it too soon you have to do it again.

Crafting wire can be found at Michael's or some other store like that.

Hope this helps.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by Lorraine

There is a lot of good info above for you to think abut. I use cork bark when ever I can.

When I first started mounting I found that fishing line would work on some mounts but it was harder on others especially larger pieces of bark or driftwood. Problem solved by drilling a hole on either side of the cork/wood after I figured out the best placement of the orchid. I used 16 or 18 gauge soft brass wire to pass through the holes holding the plant firmly in place. Twist in the back and tweek the wire a little at a time in the back if it was still loose. Regular wire can sometimes be to rigid to work with on smaller pieces of cork to drill through but you can make "U" shape pins and carefully push them over a bulb or two into the cork to fasten. I use needle nose pliers to assist that part. Depending on the size of the pant I might have to use 2 wires. Adding a little moss tucked in a few spots helped hold some moisture until it firmly took hold. I never have to remove the wire. The fishing line method can be tricky and if you remove it too soon you have to do it again.

Crafting wire can be found at Michael's or some other store like that.

Hope this helps.

Do any of the plants ever grow through the wire? Or does it ever strangle any of them? I don't know all about all of their growing habits at present, but I was recently working on an archaeological site where a tree trunk actually ATE an old fancy iron bench from the 19th century...the house was so old the tree had just grown into the bench and swallowed it up. You could still see some pieces of it to know it was there, but...it was pretty intense.

Do orchids ever do anything of the like?

[tucker85]

I agree with Lorraine about drilling holes in large pieces and running a piece of wire through the holes and around the plant to hold it in place. For small mounts I like to use velcro tape. It's available at Home Depot. They keep it in the garden area right beside the trellises. Here's a mini-catt on a 2" cork tube with velcro tape.



This one is on a cork plaque. I drilled holes on each side and ran a wire through the holes and around the base of the pseudobulb. This one only took 6 weeks to completely attach to the cork. But plaques only have one side. I like tubes better.



This one has been on a small piece of driftwood for a few years.



---------- Post added at 08:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:44 AM ----------

At this point I think I like wood baskets better. They can either be hung up or they can be placed on a bench or table. The wide base will never tip over. They will eventually rot but I've had orchids in them for as long as 5 years now. Initially I used cork chips as a medium but now I've switched to large chunks of cork 1"-2", Large chunks of tree fern fiber, or large lava rock. So it's pretty much like mounting but on a horizontal surface.





The pseudobulbs on this one have grown out of the basket and are growing on the outside of the basket. I love it when they do that.

[Discus]

Originally Posted by butterfly_muse

Do any of the plants ever grow through the wire? Or does it ever strangle any of them?

Yes, it can happen (probably more likely with the "strangle" option) - which is why using wider rather than thinner, softer rather than harder, and removing once attached are all good ideas (both aesthetically and for the longevity of the plant). I guess this is also similar in some respects to "wiring" a bonsai - if you don't attend to it enough, the tree will "grow into it" - much like things tied around branches/stems will often cut into them around gardens, and one reason why some people use things that tend to "break" if they're left too long (thin organic materials tend to do this). In fact, with only a short-ish overlap, tucker's ingenious velcro solution would probably also mitigate this. That said, orchids grow pretty slowly and tend to be minutely examined regularly, so I doubt you'd end up with your plant swallowing a park bench any time soon before you noticed the start of a problem!

[Lorraine]

I'll post a few pictures later of a mount on cork done Feb '08 and what it looks like today wire and all. Plus some shots of the wire in the back of others. Now... where is that darn camera?

[Lorraine]

Took a couple pictures of mounts with wire hope you can make sense of it. The first 2 are of a Schomburkia cross from 2/2008 and then yesterday the same mount. The others ore various shots. I do use a couple different gauges of wire since some orchids are smaller more fragile than others and on the other hand shombos and some catts are so large smaller wire would likely to damage the pseudo bulbs.

[butterfly_muse]

The look great! How do they attach themselves to the mounts? How do you know when to take the wires off?

[Lorraine]

Originally Posted by butterfly_muse

The look great! How do they attach themselves to the mounts? How do you know when to take the wires off?

Their roots grow onto the cork since it is rough and not smooth. I don't have to remove them since the cork does not rot. Good for me and if they start growing too large and hanging off I can cut a division off the mother plant. Sometimes I have started something on a smaller piece and then mounted the small piece onto a larger mount. Just depends on how much room you have to grow. I don't remove the wire. I use either brass or copper wire and it does not rust and darkens looking like the mount and also the roots cover it up. Takes no time for mother nature to do her job. I like using either 16 or 18 gauge wire. Soft to make it pliable to arrange around the base of the bulbs and not damage them. I'm always careful when making my attachment, just snug enough to not allow the plant to move but not tight to hurt it.