Some of my orchids hate oak, some of them don't care. :)

Tess,
I am probably going to be the ONLY person to say be careful with hickory.

I don't think that it will hurt your plants, but its sap is very high in sugar content and it rots extremely quickly once its wet.

We live on 5 acres of land here and during the 2004 hurricane season took direct hits from Frances and Jeanne. We lost 29 trees directly that fell to high winds during the storm, but later on, we have lost about 15 more since then to fungal disease from the high water that took over a year to get back to normal.

We had to have 5 huge (over 100 ft) hickory trees removed that were in danger of falling on the house, and the arborist told me that if I wanted to try to sell it to smokehouses I'd better do it in 3 days, because once hickory has been on the ground for over a week, no one will touch it. The high sugar content attracts wood eating bugs almost immediately, and the wood starts to decay.

The tree service wanted $2000 to haul all the debris away, but the arborist said that if we just stacked it up and left it, it would decay and fall apart within a year's time. And, he was right. We burned some ourselves and the rest just turned to dust.

Since you will be wetting this wood probably daily with an orchid on it, I'd really be careful, you may be remounting sooner than you think

Faerygirl, thanks for the information!

I think many people confuse the wood with the bark. I suspect many of the orchid mixes contain pine bark. I can not think of another source for that bark. Look at it and see if you can tell.
Pine is bad, but the bark is different. Just like oak, the bark is different from the wood.
Someone correct me if I'm way off base here. And does anyone actually know the type of bark used in common orchid mix? Walmart type brands?

I make potting mixes by myself and I use pine that I bring from the forest (by myself too). So, I know exactly what I'm using. Now I have almost 100% of my collection growing in pine mixes for already few years and only two plants in oak mixes (only because the pine is not recommended for these particular species). There is nothing bad in pine bark if you prepare it properly. ;) Of course, I use bark, not the wood.

What are you doing with the wood not suitable for mounting........sounds ideal for some slow cooked pork shoulder over hickory! Yum!

Exactly! :lol: