Mounting on clay pots issues

[Edward Brookes]

some years back I persuaded a local nursery to order terra cotta cylinders on which to grow miniature orchids. The cylinders are closed at the bottom, & have holes at the top edge for wire hangers. They really work well,but the clay needs a long period of soaking to leach out mineral salts & binders. Some hold water longer than others, & so one can assess how often they need filling. Algae grows at the bottom of the wettest pipes, & can be a problem. I always add a little of the sheet moss when attaching the orchid. It soon spreads, & on a good pipe, covers it completely - looks really good, & suits the plants which need cool, moist conditions. I spray fertilizer on the outside ONLY,never adding it to the water inside the pipe - I don't want salts building up on the evaporative surface & killing roots & moss. A. scottianum has gone mad on these pipes, the dry ones are good for mini Catts, & I have a very happy Trias on a pipe which is completely covered in moss. E. polybulbon takes very well to the pipes, simply wrap it around again as soon as it is long enough. The plants on those pots in the picture look woderful. I agree about omitting sphagnum moss or other moss pads. Just a whisp of sheet moss added as you mount the orchids seems to be ideal. With the very wet pipes I've had, I tie the plant higher up on the pipe, so perhaps this would work on a pot as well. I tried coir fibre, it's ok on a dryish pipe, but rots very quickly on a wet pipe, so really I think it's not useful. In any case, small birds come & strip it all off for their nests - so now they have their own supply, without any orchide to hinder their work!