Mountign vs. Potting

[Imperial_Exotics]

So I am curious.......

mounted vs. potted. practical reasons, or just aesthetic ones?

I currently have several hundred young plants in liners, all need to be moved to a more permanent accommodation be it in a pot or mounted on a piece of bark or whatever.

So far, I have moved roughly 600 plants into semi hydroponic pots over the past week. 32oz. Fruit fly cups (holes drilled for drainage 1" up from bottom) and filled with Hydroton.

What I'm finding is that while the hydroton is going to be reusable for many years, this past week was ridiculously expensive at 35.00 a bag.

I'm in S. California, so it's usually hot and dry and no humidity to speak of.

I have a very large greenhouse.

What I have to transplant still are Cattleya, Orchidglade, Doritis and Laelia.

With large volumes of plants, I'm wondering if I should just mount all of these and water frequently instead of semi hydro.

thoughts?