Growing on mounts in the house...the non-messy way?

[Weebl]

A relevant post was made on Big Leaf Orchid's Forum of a Phalaenopsis gigantea mounted and displayed in the house year round. Loose system specs were provided at the end of the thread. Was this what you were thinking of?

[Call_Me_Bob]

thats an awesome plant!!!!

the way i grow my big phal mount is i but the mount into a storage container ( small rectangular ) and i put leca in the bottom, and silled with enough water to almost touch the mount... and i water in the shower

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your replys! Some wonderful ideas!

Unfortunately letting the mound drip to the floor is not an option for me as i have a wooden floor and lots of carpets,making it unacceptable! My windowsills are also too thin for all but very small mounts so i cant use them either

Camille,
Wow,thats some dedication!!!!!!!! An easy way to make them self sufficient for a few weeks would be to enclose them almost airtight in a transparent container,such as the ones sold for storage and place a dish with water in there as well. That would keep the humidity too high for them to dry out anytime soon and so if placed in with the correct amount of moisture on the mount and roots,they would retain it for the whole time you would be away. I use a bigger version of this to maintain my indoor potted palms while i am away for more than a few days(well its not a container by the technical term but i move them to my quite humid basement(thanks to my 2meter aquarium),under lights and it keeps them just moist enough to be ok till i return. If i need longer than 2 weeks,i turn the dehumidifier off and i dont think they even dry at all then

Jennyfleur,
Something i have thought of that would/could be attractive enough to keep in your living areas would be a dish big enough to stand the mount on allowing for a little space around to avoid splashing of water during watering. That dish could be made of porcelain or plain plexiglass or even wood waterproofed with resin. If made tall enough and a grid added somewhere in the middle of the dish wall's height or keeping the mount raised above the bottom of the dish in some other way,it could also act as a water reservoir tank and with a small pump on timer and thin tubing,watering could be automated as water would be pumped on the mound for a few minutes,soak it well and it would drain again in the reservoir tank formed by the dish itself. The grid could be hidden by placing some kind of growing media such as coco bedding,orchid mix or long fibered sphagnum moss on top and moss or even a few other plants or orchids could be grown there. If without grid,water plants could be grown in the water of the dish. This has been the most viable idea i have come with for keeping a large mound(or even several small mounds)in my living quarters but even this would take a little too much space i am afraid We will see

littlefrog,
Good idea although it wouldnt compliment the mound well in the looks i think. I have done this with a bromeliad but it didnt help on the natural look i wanted to create. At least the bromeliad grew far better that way than it was before in the growing mix it came with.

Nick,
Its great to hear your mounds do well with your treatment! I wish i could keep my mound above the kitchen sink as well but its a place i dont spend much time around

Weebl,
Thank you very much for the link!!! That surely is something attractive enough to demand a good spot in the house! Phalaenopsis gigantea is actually the exact species i want the big mound for Its great to see its viable to keep inside a not too wide terrarium! More food for thought!

Bob,
Thats a very good idea as well! Could you post a few pictures of your big mounted Phalaenopsis? How often do you need to water it with your setup?

My Phalaenopsis gigantea just arrived today and i am trying to figure out what to do with it...

[Call_Me_Bob]

here is mine. i water about 2x a week. i probably should water more. in the summer its outside, and i water once a day.

[gnathaniel]

Hi Kostas, I grow a lot of mounted orchids in my home because hanging them up allows me to utilize window space more efficiently. I deal with the dripping a few different ways:

1) Let them drip out in or over the sink. I have a long 'bar' of lights over my kitchen sink, I just hang the plants there until they stop dripping. Sometimes I water in the shower and leave them to drip in there. A lot of my plants hang together on tie and pants racks, so I can take down a whole rack to water at once rather than each individual plant.

2) Hang them over other plants in pots. Typically I use terrestrial houseplants for this b/c dirt is better able to absorb the moisture. Pest/disease transmission is a concern so I rarely use other orchids for this purpose.

3) Hang them over 'humidity' trays to catch the drips.

4) Set the plant in a pot or saucer (similar to what Rob/littlefrog suggested). This can either be until it stops dripping or can be a longer-term home.

5) Hang a large, clear plastic zipper bag from the wire hanger to hold/catch excess water. This doesn't look great and can be hard to do with bigger mounts, so I mostly use it for vacations and for moisture-lovers that I want to water a lot while they establish.

For me mounted plants don't seem to have any more run-off than potted ones, it's more a matter of duration of the dripping and how far off the ground it is that determines how much mess a plant makes. The less moisture-retentive material I use on a mount the shorter the length of time it'll tend to drip after being watered, so you can somewhat tailor each mount to its intended location and your own watering habits.

--Nat

[Connie Star]

Originally Posted by help

here is mine. i water about 2x a week. i probably should water more. in the summer its outside, and i water once a day.

I like that idea, Bob- I've avoided mounts because of the drip problem. I will have to try that.

[Call_Me_Bob]

give it a try! the bud looks small in the pic, but its about the size of a half-dollar!

[Kostas]

Thank you very much all of you for your great ideas! Indoor mounting seems more feasible now

[Call_Me_Bob]

yep just make sure you try to keep your humidity up. phals might not be the best candidate for mounting though, in the summer i water once a day. maybe something that likes it a bit dryier? either indoor mounting is a good option

[natmaxtothemax]

Hi Kostas:

In your post of 02/21/11, you mentioned pumps, timers, etc. That's exactly what I have. I wanted to have an automated system to be able to go away on vacations, weekends and give more consistent care. I originally set it up in December 2009 when I went away for 2 weeks. In July 2010, I was away for close to 3 weeks. I lock my house, nobody touches my plants, I have heat, but no AC. In February 2011, I was away for 1 week again. Rhynchostylis gigantea is blooming now. The system works. I didn't make it too pretty though.

My original setup was with a submersible pump in a container and thin clear tubing going to the plants (Ascocenda and Rhynchostylis gigantea). The same water was used for both plants. A timer was set to start the pumps twice a day for 3 min (6:30 am and 3 pm). I change water ~1/week. If I remember, I put fertilizer.

The original container was a plastic garbage container, so it wasn't very pretty. In January of this year, I saw awesome pictures of orchids in vases. I loved the look, but there was no way I'd be watering by hand. My boyfriend drilled a drain hole in glass vases, so I have a similar setup as before, but it looks more attractive. From the drain hole, another clear tubing returns water into the original container.

Disclosure: since the move into glass vases, the roots of my Rhyn. gigantea are not looking so good, hence, I'm here looking for answers and ideas. I haven't been paying too much attention to it lately I'm wondering if I watered too much. I changed the setup, but didn't adjust watering.

Good luck,
Natalia