What is the best mount for a spider orchid?

[Maryanne]

HI -
if you decide to mount it, yes, you can use acrylic yarn of some sort instead of (the unsightly to my eyes) fishing line monofilament :-p,
or floral wire, jute string, cotton string, bailing twine, torn up tee shirts, etc.
Really, the orchid does not care about anything other than: not strangling it's roots, keeping it stable and draining well. You can use any color you like - and the yarn comes in colors that blend with the moss pad you will use, or the wood mount,... or screaming orange! Have fun an happy growing : -)
Maryanne

[twinkie]

Originally Posted by Maryanne

HI -
if you decide to mount it, yes, you can use acrylic yarn of some sort instead of (the unsightly to my eyes) fishing line monofilament :-p,
or floral wire, jute string, cotton string, bailing twine, torn up tee shirts, etc.
Really, the orchid does not care about anything other than: not strangling it's roots, keeping it stable and draining well. You can use any color you like - and the yarn comes in colors that blend with the moss pad you will use, or the wood mount,... or screaming orange! Have fun an happy growing : -)
Maryanne

I still might mount it. I'm thinking to mount my angraecoid (sp?) and eyeballing that other in the slat basket too.
I have a miniature mounted on tree fern slab I bought off of Amazon and suspect what you are saying about strangling. It's alive, growing, sends out new roots and leaves but I think it's strapped down so tight with clear fish line it's simply sending wigglers out and not finding room at the inn. A few roots are disappearing into the tree fern slab but something is off. Even with misting and watering some of the new roots are not finding a foothold and simply shrivel up. I wonder if anyone has figured out the actual pressure # of "too tight" when strapping orchids in, besides waiting to see how they take to the new digs. I'm going to untie this miniature, carefully lift the moss ball and see wth is happening under there. Thanks for posting this, am gonna check this out...

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[SG in CR]

I know this is a bit late to the discussion, but having grown these in their natural environment, I can tell you they aren't picky. But if you want flowers, they want light, lots of it. They survive in the shade but may only flower once or twice a year with only a couple flowers. Also they will grow on a solid mount just fine, but I once tossed one on top of some Tradescantia groundcover and forgot about it for a year or so. It was doing fine and had grown it's roots through out the groundcover around it. As long as they aren't wet all day long any freely draining media should do. They are native to Guanacaste Province here in Costa Rica where they deal with 4-5 months of dry season every year, so the can handle the heat and dryness. Though they only bloom when they get rain.

[twinkie]

Originally Posted by SG in CR

I know this is a bit late to the discussion, but having grown these in their natural environment, I can tell you they aren't picky. But if you want flowers, they want light, lots of it. They survive in the shade but may only flower once or twice a year with only a couple flowers. Also they will grow on a solid mount just fine, but I once tossed one on top of some Tradescantia groundcover and forgot about it for a year or so. It was doing fine and had grown it's roots through out the groundcover around it. As long as they aren't wet all day long any freely draining media should do. They are native to Guanacaste Province here in Costa Rica where they deal with 4-5 months of dry season every year, so the can handle the heat and dryness. Though they only bloom when they get rain.

Ooooo thanks for the tips!Is Guanacaste on the North shore or South dry side? Oh lucky you!
I was messing around with the poor thing hanging it, the hook fell and it scattered bark all over the floor uprooted, then somehow I did it AGAIN knocking it and scattered it all over. Didn't phase it a bit so think you're right it can grow just about anyhow anywhere! I decided to just leave it alone lol and it's been on my front steps for the summer and seems to be doing fine. After uprooting it twice I think it's best to just let it be until next spring. It's taking blazing sun like a champ and I just mist him and soak with fert every week.
@Maryanne
I loosened up the fish wire on that miniature and wow, NOW it's growing! Shot out a bunch of new leaves and roots, almost twice the size now! No idea if it really was the too tight line strangling it or what, but from now on no fish line for me.

[SG in CR]

Originally Posted by twinkie

Is Guanacaste on the North shore or South dry side?

Guanacaste is on the Northwest coast of CR, the drier part of the Pacific coast. I've seen them growing within a stones throw of the ocean up to about 300m altitude. I haven't really seen them growing wild anywhere the dry season isn't very long. At first I though maybe they need the rest period to bloom or something like that. But now that I've had some growing in a region where the grass stays green all year long most years, I think it may be down to lack of a pollinator outside of the drier areas. Mine grow and bloom well but never develop a seed pod.

[twinkie]

Originally Posted by SG in CR

Guanacaste is on the Northwest coast of CR, the drier part of the Pacific coast. I've seen them growing within a stones throw of the ocean up to about 300m altitude. I haven't really seen them growing wild anywhere the dry season isn't very long. At first I though maybe they need the rest period to bloom or something like that. But now that I've had some growing in a region where the grass stays green all year long most years, I think it may be down to lack of a pollinator outside of the drier areas. Mine grow and bloom well but never develop a seed pod.

Hummmm....a pollinator.....don't know why...I just thought that orchids...just....bloomed! lol...What would be a pollinator specific to spider orchids? Bees? A beetle? A hummingbird? (Hey, I've seen the tiniest bumblebee size hummingbirds in brasil!) I've never even thought of "pollinators" really for my phals, except have found stink bugs in love embraces on flowers that then dry up and drop the next day. I wonder why there is no pollinator for your spider orchid? That's weird you've never gotten a seed pod in the wild of your backyard. Do you ever see bees around them when in bloom? I never even thought that there might be a specific pollinator a certain plant needs....except I read about that one night moth or bat with the long nectar "tongue" it uncurls to reach deep inside certain flowers...hmmmm...will have to look into this...anyone on here know about specific pollinators for specific orchids?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by twinkie

...will have to look into this...anyone on here know about specific pollinators for specific orchids?

Pollinators are one of the major drivers of speciation. In the wild, species that could interbreed may not, and stay separate species because of different pollinators, different bloom times, etc. To get baby orchids, everything has to come together at the right time. Darwin wrote a whole book on the subject "The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects", in 1862. Botanists have been fascinated by the subject ever since. If you can find the BBC documentary by David Attenborough, "Plants Behaving Badly: Sex and Lies" it's wonderful. Not just Darwin's prediction of the moth (Xanthopan morganii praedicta) that pollinates Angraecum sesquipedale (There are several YouTube videos catching it in the act),there are lots of other specific forms for specific pollinators. For instance the reed-stem Epidendrums (and others as well) have very small lips and tubular structures around the reproductive parts... this might be awkward for insects that need a "landing pad" but perfect for hummingbirds (who are the pollinators of that group)

[SG in CR]

Different orchid species have different pollinators for sure. Some seem to be very species specific. My Catasetums get pollinated by a by Euglossine bee looks like a bumble bee. Gongoras get pollinated by small metallic green bees, though the big ones that pollinate the Catasetum visit them too. Speckelina get polinated by what look to be fruit flies. And my Epidendrum secundum get visited by hummingbirds.
B. nodosa ( I wouldn't call it a spider orchid as that name seems to be generally mean Brassia sp.) gets pollinated at night by moths from what I've read. My guess is that the moth that does it isn't native to where I live. So even if B. nodosa thrives where I live it may not be able to reproduce so eventually dies away without human intervention.