Two new mounts, opinions needed...

[Bird Song Farm]

Originally Posted by harrywitmore

In the vivarium trade I have seen a frame like this be sprayed with great stuff and then coated with either of 2 methods. Coat the foam with 100% silicone caulk and then press perfectly dry coir or peat into the silicone
Hope this helps! Love the armature!

Chas, I like this idea. Also, you could get a can of the expanding foam they use to seal cracks around doors and windows (I believe it comes in white or black.....spray on a heavy coat, then carve to look like bark of a tree, then glue on the dry coir with silicone. Then affix your plants strategically with S. moss.

This doesn't make use of your ingenious watering system though.

I second the armature!!
I'm still working on it........

AL

[ChasWG]

Here's a question I should have asked a while ago, what is coir?

As for the spray foam that Harry suggests and used in his project, I like the idea of it a lot. Neat stuff. It is sculpable once dry, but is is plant safe? Will it outgas anything nasty that will be a problem later? Just thoughts that ran through my head. I'm still leaning toward the Epiweb at this point, but I am totally open to other ideas.

BTW, I found the perfect pump today to drive the watering system. It even has an adjustable flow rate. So maybe I won't have to use the Dig mister heads instead of the watering heads. But we'll see when I hook it up. I'm sure I'll take a bath, errrrr... shower with this project.

[harrywitmore]

Originally Posted by ChasWG

Here's a question I should have asked a while ago, what is coir?

As for the spray foam that Harry suggests and used in his project, I like the idea of it a lot. Neat stuff. It is sculpable once dry, but is is plant safe? Will it outgas anything nasty that will be a problem later? Just thoughts that ran through my head. I'm still leaning toward the Epiweb at this point, but I am totally open to other ideas.

BTW, I found the perfect pump today to drive the watering system. It even has an adjustable flow rate. So maybe I won't have to use the Dig mister heads instead of the watering heads. But we'll see when I hook it up. I'm sure I'll take a bath, errrrr... shower with this project.

I think the manufacturer says that after this product cures there is no outgas and it does not leach anything. If you apply really thick it may take some time to cure. But you would not have that as an issue.

[Bird Song Farm]

Chas, how about wraping the frame in the weed control fabric sold to lay flat on the ground to stop weeds from coming up. It will let water through and is a plastic or fiberglass or some other type of material that takes a long time to break down. You could cut the material into strips and wrap. I think you can find it in black, green, or brown...........then you could mount your plants with S. Moss and the final effect would "kind of" have a more natural look.
Oh, how about filling the interior with cubes of epi web.
Al

[ChasWG]

I like the idea of using epiweb on the inside, but that might block the spray heads from moving water to the outer layers.
the landscaping fabric, while flexible and cheap might not give enough for th eorchids to plant their roots into.

I like the idea of epiweb because it simply takes many, many years to break down, if at all. Therefore I wouldn't have to be replacing the medium every two years or so.

I'm still messing with ideas at this point, I haven't got any Epiweb to mess with yet. Real soon though.

[chandraluna]

Did your project work? I'm interested because I am working on my first mounting project but with a old ficus branch and thinking about posting in a ceramic pot for the base with rock/tile/foam something to stabilize....!

I really like your idea, maybe you should sell them, I know I would want one...!

[flhiker]

Somewhere here on the OB someone built a tree very similar to yours. They used cork bark, spray foam, wire ties. I will try to find it. If I remember it came out pretty good.

Found it: artificial orchid tree :)