Live tree fern plant found, want to mount orhids on it

[diegazo]

Hi orchid lovers. I mounted a couple of orchids on some nice bark/ drift wood and they are doing great. I"m attaching some examples for you guys to see. I recently found a tree fern also attached. And there is a group of pictures of volunteer orchids, phals and dendrobium. These potted plants are just waiting for their turn to be mounted somewhere, as I became obsessed with mounting and creating mini jungles with built in humidifiers. As you can see in this link

Dropbox - orchid board - Simplify your life

I'd love to get your opinion if it's a good idea to repot this potentially beautiful fern tree for indoors/bonsai kinda thing. and mount a couple of orchids. Any suggestions as to what kind to mount from the ones you see. Should I mount it and make it live outside? I live in southern California. I think I'd rather keep it indoors. what do you guys think?

[Roberta]

I don't know how well those do indoors or whether they lend themselves to bonsai... I have one in the back yard, that is now somewhere around 15-18 feet (5-6 meters) tall. The trunk of a mature tree fern makes an excellent mounting surface. But it's going to take awhile for yours to get to that point. I'd suggest doing the mounting on cork or any wood with rough bark (Bottle brush tree wood works really well) Look around for a neighbor who is trimming their tree.

[voyager]

I have several tree ferns in my yard, from 2 to 6 ft tall.
I measure their height to the growing area at the top of the trunk.
One was over 6' tall with it's fronds (leaves, branches, or ?) reaching up begining to overgrow the electrical wires to the house.
It had several new plant offshoots started on the lower part of the trunk.
I took a chainsaw and cut the upper portion of the trunk off just above the offsets.
Dug a hole nearby setting the butt of the new plant in it.
It has rooted and is now a new treefern about 3-4' tall.
The old stump is now a huge group of fronds from the many young trees growing from the sides of the older stump.
It's again begining to threaten the house's incoming electrtical wiring.
I do live in a location that is within their natural range which gives me a fair number growing mixed into the native forest areas of my lot.
OK, so much for giving my reasons for my interest in this.

That is a very young plant.
Larger treeferns grow at only a very few inches a year, 2 to 3 I believe.
that, those (?) are going to take years to gain size.
I would treat them very tenderly until they gain enough size to withstand being mucked around with.
Just from being around them, they seem to need a lot of water with excelent drainage.

I love treeferns.
I've noted some areas where they grow so thickly they have pushed the trees out and their fronds almost block all the light out.
They look to be 8 to 10' or more tall.
I've scoped on poaching a few of them to bring home, but they hold a lot of water and are heavy.
I'm getting too old to manhandle them around, ... cuting them down, digging them up, loading them into a truck, hauling them around, and replanting, too much work.

They seem to grow best in the Volcano area at over 5k' elevation. Winter night temps go down into the 50's, with summer day temps into the 90's.
They're cooler but their treeferns look to be happier.