Mountign vs. Potting

[Imperial_Exotics]

Not sure that I agree that mounted are harder to sell than potted. I think people are going to buy items that strike their fancy regardless of how it is setup.

Case in point, local orchid club last week had dozens of mounted items available and all were gone before the end of the meeting. People were like like vultures......

Yes, I have a lot of greenhouse space, yes I'm selling plants. In fact everything I have is geared towards selling.

Aesthetically, I think the mounted look by far better and are more interesting than potted, and look more like they would in the wild. I know for a fact that appeals to people.

My assumption going into this question was that the issue was more about personal preference than actual practical considerations like, it will grow much better and healthier mounted or vice versa.

I was pretty certain that I would find responses both ways, and for many different reasons. All perfectly valid for each individuals situation.

Thanks to everyone who replied!!

FYI, I ended up potting everything in S/H. With the exceptions of a few very amazing looking plants that I decided were too cool looking to sell.

I'm mounting all of those.

[Luksgloria]

Well, I had a terrible experience with mounting a cattleya... I live in Brazil and humidity in my city is always like 80%, but outside is a little bit windy at night and suddenly my plant was almost dying of dehydration, even watering every day; The wind dries everything very fast, much faster than the sun and I didn't know that. I'm now growing my orchids in sphagnum moss with a tray of water underneath and it's much better. I know mounted orchids look great but I prefer not to take the risk!!!!

[orchidvalley]

Hi I have been thinking of mounting some orchids. I was wondering what types of wood would work. I read that red cedar can be used. What about birch bark? Are there any other wood that would work here in Wisconsin?

[gnathaniel]

Hi, what orchids do you want to mount? Some types are more or less easy to grow this way, though some will also do much better than in a pot.

Roughly excerpted from Marble Branch Farm's website: 'Crape Myrtle, Eastern Red Cedar, Western Red Cedar, Redwood, Manzanita, Atlantic White Cedar, Sourwood, Sassafras, Juniper, Douglas Fir, Mountain Laurel, Rhododendron, Locust, and many others.' This page in general is a good primer on mounting orchids.

If you don't have any of those woods handy, try to find something that rots slowly and doesn't have resins (like pine) or other properties that might be toxic to an epiphyte (such as walnut). Plain untreated cedar shakes or any other plank of cedar work well; you can drill holes in these and/or add sphagnum moss as necessary to adjust the properties of the mount to suit the plant.

I've never tried birch for a mount, but most of the birch I've seen in the woods around here seems to rot pretty quick once it's dead. On the other hand, the papery bark might make for some really happy orchid roots... Worth a shot if you don't mind remounting the plant if it doesn't work out.

Anyway, hope this helps!

--Nat

[orchidvalley]

Hi I have a few plants that are struggling in a pot that I would like to try and a few that haven't bloomed for me yet in a pot. They are: Laelia lundii ‘Laurelwood’(growing good for me out of the pot and not blooming), Enc. Ramonense ‘Dr Pepper’(free small plant, growing well for me), Neostylis ‘Lou Sneary’ Bluebird(growing well, not blooming), Slc.Love Castle 'Kurenai'(this plant has been struggling in a pot, I rescued it from my sister with no roots, I haven't been able to get much new root growth on it. I have some new root growth starting on the new growth now. It would be a good time to mount), 2 NOID Cattleyas(slow growth in their pots),Dendrobium Spring Dream ‘kumiko’ and Dendrobium Delicatum.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by orchidvalley

Hi I have a few plants that are struggling in a pot that I would like to try and a few that haven't bloomed for me yet in a pot. They are: Laelia lundii ‘Laurelwood’(growing good for me out of the pot and not blooming), Enc. Ramonense ‘Dr Pepper’(free small plant, growing well for me), Neostylis ‘Lou Sneary’ Bluebird(growing well, not blooming), Slc.Love Castle 'Kurenai'(this plant has been struggling in a pot, I rescued it from my sister with no roots, I haven't been able to get much new root growth on it. I have some new root growth starting on the new growth now. It would be a good time to mount), 2 NOID Cattleyas(slow growth in their pots),Dendrobium Spring Dream ‘kumiko’ and Dendrobium Delicatum.

How's your lighting?

[orchidvalley]

I use the south and eastern windows in my house. The south window is in my bathroom and the east window is in the kitchen, both places of humidity. I still use stones in the trays under the plants. I also have a large ficus tree in the living room that faces a southern window. I could hang them under that tree it is so tall now.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Imperial_Exotics

Not sure that I agree that mounted are harder to sell than potted. I think people are going to buy items that strike their fancy regardless of how it is setup.

I think the depends on your market. If your market is experienced/semi-experienced orchid growers then I agree. But if your market is novices/semi-experienced then I think a higher proportion would be put off.

An experienced or semi-experienced grower who wants mounted would probably know how to mount a potted one for themselves.

I'm semi-experienced and do grow some mounts... but if I see an orchid I'm considering buying is mounted I will search else where to see if I can find it potted. The mounts I have are because I was taking part in the Orchid Board project and could only find the project plant mounted. If I had found it potted I still would not have dared to try mounted ones and if it wasn't a project where I had to get the particular plant I would have bought something else.

I'm glad I tried mounted and quite enjoy them... but I would still favour potted because of my indoor space constraints and would find a vendor with them potted over buying mounted.

I agree they look better and are easy to care for (if you have space where they can drip) and are more like in nature... but I've only come to apreciate that since reading OB and then being forced to overcome my fear and try them.

Originally Posted by Imperial_Exotics

Case in point, local orchid club last week had dozens of mounted items available and all were gone before the end of the meeting. People were like like vultures......

Sure... but people at an orchid club will be on the experienced/semi-experienced side of things.

Just my

[gnathaniel]

Originally Posted by orchidvalley

Hi I have a few plants that are struggling in a pot that I would like to try and a few that haven't bloomed for me yet in a pot. They are: Laelia lundii ‘Laurelwood’(growing good for me out of the pot and not blooming), Enc. Ramonense ‘Dr Pepper’(free small plant, growing well for me), Neostylis ‘Lou Sneary’ Bluebird(growing well, not blooming), Slc.Love Castle 'Kurenai'(this plant has been struggling in a pot, I rescued it from my sister with no roots, I haven't been able to get much new root growth on it. I have some new root growth starting on the new growth now. It would be a good time to mount), 2 NOID Cattleyas(slow growth in their pots),Dendrobium Spring Dream ‘kumiko’ and Dendrobium Delicatum.

These should all do great mounted. The Neostylis might need a little more moisture than some of the others, though the Neofinetia parent likes drier winters which should be easy to provide on a mount. Likewise with the Den. Spring Dream, nobile-type Dendrobiums like a ton of moisture and fertilizer during active growth followed by a cooler and drier winter to set good blooms.

Here's another website to check out for mounting tips, this guy really knows his stuff: Developing an Orchid Collection with Backbulbs: Orchid mounting. Good luck!

Originally Posted by RosieC

I think the depends on your market. If your market is experienced/semi-experienced orchid growers then I agree. But if your market is novices/semi-experienced then I think a higher proportion would be put off.

Some of the first orchids I ever bought for myself were mounted on wood. The grower selling them at the show had a great display and did a terrific job of informing people on how to care for them. Then again, I've never had tremendous success with 'traditional' houseplants in pots so maybe the pump was already primed, so to speak... I've also been around orchids and orchid shows since I was a kid, so even though I was a (very) novice grower at the time the sight of orchids grown epiphytically wasn't entirely unfamiliar.

Originally Posted by RosieC

I'm glad I tried mounted and quite enjoy them... but I would still favour potted because of my indoor space constraints and would find a vendor with them potted over buying mounted.

Personally I find mounted plants to be EASIER on my indoor space constraints because I can more efficiently utilize limited window-space. If I only used windowsills for plants I'd have space for 1/2-1/4 of what I'm currently growing (though maybe that would be a good thing...).

My main issue with buying mounted plants over potted is that many vendors tend to mount them in ways or on materials I don't like, so I often remount them anyway. I definitely agree that going from pot to mount tends to be easier than going the other way, but if I can find something already well-mounted I'll snap it up because it saves me the time and energy of doing it later. Sorry if I'm being contrary (I think it's just in my nature)!

--Nat

[RosieC]

My main problem with mounted is that if I try and hang them on the walls I very quickly get damp stains on the walls where the water has seeped out the mount and onto the wall. That happened with my first one. I have to hang it when still wet because it takes all day to dry and once it's dry it's time to water again.

I would be interested to hear how others deal with this

The three mounts I have are hanging over the sides of other plant pots (with other plants in) in my bathroom. The windowledge is tiled so no problem with drips.

In the summer when my mounts are outside/in the green house it's great, but they do cause a problem once they come inside.