Considering a mount project: wood and shell

[jess_hawk]

Hey all!
I'm thinking about taking a risk and bidding on some bare-root Lepanthes (good price on Lepanthes... and I'm a sucker for Lepanthes) on eBay. It depends on what the price does tomorrow, but I'll probably end up doing it.
Anyway, if I do get these plants, I'm thinking about taking the majority of the spag moss out of the bottom of my terrarium and putting a driftwood mount in. Maybe even creating a paludarium for one or both of my killifish fry (but that's a whole other theory).

Can I use boiled/sanitized driftwood from the river (the Mississippi)? What kinds of wood are safe (I know treated wood is bad)? I can also raid my dad's woodshop or go for a hike in the local woods.

As an alternative, I saw something a while back about someone planting an orchid in a shell. I have an excellent shell collection that includes several shells with sufficient holiness that I think they would make good orchid "pots," depending on the size of the plant. Any thoughts on this technique?

I'll keep you posted on whether I buy the plants.

[jess_hawk]

Yay! I won the auction, the plants should be on their way as soon as I get things paid.

I think I'm going to look for driftwood in the next couple of days!

[jess_hawk]

OK, photos coming soon... I'll hopefully be mounting Sunday night or Monday! I found a nice big chunk of wood that will be great for a couple of plants, and another branch that is interestingly twisted/knotted.

[jess_hawk]

My big piece of driftwood was too big by about an inch, so I took a chunk off of it and used that. The rest of it will make a good mount later. The rest are mounted though! I promise photos by tomorrow night!

[flhiker]

Unless you get your wood from a saltwater area I don't think you need to do anything but clean it up. I have many cypress wood mounts and have not had a problem yet. I've used Sphagnum moss, Coconut husk and nothing at all on my mounts and all work just fine. I've mounted Phals, Oncidiums, and Catts. The shell sounds cool too! Just make sure the roots don't sit in water. Good luck and looking forward to some photos.

[jess_hawk]

Yay, photos!
The first three are of my bigger log piece. It didn't fit in all in one piece, so you will recognize it in photo #4... or at least a chunk of it, broken off.
The other two mounts are just a knotty branch piece, and the photo I got of the one doesn't show the mount very well (lighting is really crappy and getting plant + mount gets tricky with such long leaf stalks). So the last photo is of the piece that you can see well.

I do have one more, which is small enough that I could probably try it in a larger shell. I might try it later.