Mounting on large lava rocks?

[greengarden]

I picked up a bunch of these that used to be garden edging at my mum's house and thought they might be good for mounting orchids on. Wondering if anyone else has done the same or knows whether there are any potential issues with this? Thought I might put a phal on one of the larger ones and maybe a catt and a laelia or two... Any thoughts on sitting them in a dish of water and just letting the water diffuse up them and giving the odd mist as needed?

[Leafmite]

I have a haraella rectrocalla mounted on a chunk of lava rock with some moss. I think they would make great mounts for other orchids.

[tucker85]

It's certainly worth a try. It's always fun to experiment. I have a couple orchids mounted on the sides of clay jugs and the jugs are full of water. I've found that the wet terra cotta is not enough water for the orchid (at least so far) so I need to mist the roots every day. All mounted orchids require a lot of attention. I think the goal is to establish a large root system over time and then the orchid may not need to be watered as often. Some cattleyas are lithophytes and grow on rocks in nature. Those would be good candidates for a lava rock mount. My suspicion is that it will be too dry for a phalaenopsis, but I certainly could be wrong. Phal species often perform better on mounts than the hybrids do. Please keep us updated on how it works out. Good luck.

[Vanda lover]

Our local Canadian tire store was selling houseplants such as Anthurium mounted that way. They looked like they were doing well. Flush often to remove minerals, though.

[nutgirl]

I have a D. kingianum and a D. moniliforme hybrid growing on lava rocks. It took them a while to get established but they are doing well now.

Maureen

[isurus79]

Sounds like a great mount, but I don't think lava rocks wick water the same way clay does. You might want to do some plant free experiments first to see if the water wicks and if it does, how high does it go.

[Vanda lover]

I have been growing in s/h in lava rock and to me it wicks better than clay. I have grown both ways.