beginner with two tiny Haraella odorata

[juliet600]

I just bought two haraella odorata - and now I need to put them in lovely glass jar. I have a piece of bark and some moss and some fishing line. What I don't understand is how to 'plant' the orchids in the moss on the bark. Do I wrap the moss around the roots of the orchid and attach it to the 10" hunk of bark? the orchid is in soil that looks like tiny bark pieces today. Do I need to include this soil in the moss? Thank you! Send me to a website with this info if you know of one.

[WhiteRabbit]

hey Juliet - make a 'pad' of sphag to place on the mount where the roots will go, place the roots of the plant on the pad - many people position the roots pointing upwards on the mount, the crown of the plant down. make another pad of moss to place over the roots and then use your fishing line, or whatever you are using to fasten everything to the mount.

I would add you do not need to grow these in a glass jar, tho I know some people do - mine is potted on a window sill. I live in a fairly dry climate. I spritz mine daily and make sure the potting media doesnt dry out.

[juliet600]

Ok, I can do this! I've got all the equipment.
* not sure why the roots go up and the crown down, but maybe that's the way they grow in nature?
* the glass jar is so that I don't kill the lovely plants! I only bought them knowing that they would be happy in the mini-greenhouse of the jar. I'm not good with high maintenance plants...or people.

Thank you again. I'm loving this website.

[RosieC]

Hi Juliet,

Orchids like these grow on trees in nature and tend to grow sideways and pointing down slightly whith the roots going bot up and down. If you transfer one to a mount it's good to put the roots up so that the crown points down, but once it gets established it is likely to get roots going in all directions.

The downward pointing crown stops water collecting and causing rot in the crown. This is why orchids like this in the wild don't rot in the crown even when it rains on them. It's only when we pot then upright we get that problem.

[juliet600]

All,

thank you for your patience in answering my simple questions. I'm enjoying this very much. I'm planting the two orchids today!

Thanks.