Mounting = dry orchids

[Priya_H]

Toronto experiences like 5 weather changes a day. But my home has low humidity. It's just the way it was built. My apartment is a walkout and it's very very well insulated. I dont even turn on the heater during winter. I also have a terrarium so have to keep it kinda on the warm side during this time of the yr and that means less open windows. That is contributing to the already low humidity. It's very bright and airy place, no problems in the summer. All my orchids are doing fine..so is my Maid of Orleans Jasmine, Peacock plant, Dieffenbachia, Rhoeo and Croton. But they're potted, so have more moisture. It was those 2 who were drying out because of the cork, I suppose.

Since I reported them, they're doing great!! Roots are no longer dry, the large one's leaves have actually absorbed the moisture from the moss and the daily mistings and I do notice they have gotten a bit thicker than they were. I mist all my plants multiple times daily and they also have humidity trays. I'm just glad I repotted them before it was too late!

[kaede]

It should still be possible to mount them.

We have high humidity indoors where I grow the phals, but a high temperature too which dries up wet things fast (86F to 90F). Airconditioner is only used when needed, by us humans, not the plants , and its high temp most of the time as we are not always in the room with the plants.

Mounting phals the usual way of just covering the center with sphagnum moss and most of the roots exposed doesn't work too well in my environment, many exposed roots in a new mount dry up in a few days unless I mist them every hour I guess.

So I now cover the entire root system under a good amount of sphagnum moss when mounting. This works perfectly, and I only need to water every 2 or 3 days, depending on the temperature, when it is crispy dry. In time, air roots peek out of the moss and develop, while those inside get more established.

Here is one I recently mounted, it has a good root system, which I spread at the top, bottom, and sides ... a varigated amabilis phal

[Vanda lover]

That looks like a great way to grow them. I once had an orchid tree with several orchids mounted with lots of sphag. It looked great when in bloom.

[kaede]

Here's a video where Brad puts in "copious amounts of moss" (I prefer more ), in his words ... rescuing a bone-dry orchid in a mount

"Orchid Care" | Playing around with mounting a large Orchid, My tips and tricks to mount Orchids - YouTube

[NYCorchidman]

Mounted orchids are just pain in the rear as others mentioned if you are a home grower unless you have a way to hang them somewhere like basement or a greenhouse so you can maintain high humidity and mist throughtout the day with the automatic sprinkler system.

You said your phal grew well in the moss.
Going from highly moisture retentive mix like moss to something drier like bark is always a bit of challenge unless you water a lot more.
You went from moss to the other complete extreme, mount. lol

Whether it is pot or mount, it's about water. Mounted orchids might appeal to many for more natural look, but they are much harder to keep healthy in a typical home growing environment, as I'm sure you found out the hard way.

I did the same. I acutally killed one or two mounted orchids. They just dried up to death while I was on vacation. lol

I bought some more mounted orchids after that, but only because the plants I wanted were offered as mounts. So I bought them but they are all in the process of coming off the mount.

I'm glad you moved your plant back to pot and it is happy there now!

[kaede]

Another option ... in addition to fern bark slabs, I also use "pots" for my phals. But pots with holes on all sides (I guess the correct term is "basket"), both wood and plastic, whatever I have on hand, small for seedlings and bigger for older ones with bigger leaves and more root mass. 100% sphagnum moss as medium. I then hang them up vertically. Roots get their required moisture and air.

I just have to hang them up, space is a premium at my place.



Potting Media of Phalaenopsis Species

[mtorchid]

My strategy for mounted orchids in a "home environment" is to have two places where they can be, either in a grow area or display area. Display area only when they are in bloom or when people want to see what an orchid kinda looks like in the wild.

Grow option is to lay the orchids-on-sticks flat in close proximity in a tray with clay (LECA) pebbles. I find this increases their local humidity w/out me having to have the RH so high the paint is peeling off the walls. Also, by laying flat, the water takes longer to drain out and the clay pellets slowly release moisture.

Smaller phals mounted on cork bark stay in larger plastic buckets with LECA and Moss at the bottom, again creating a very local high humidity environment for them. I simply could not water them enough in a normal house environment, so that's my fix - create two environments with no greenhouse or misting equipment at all.

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[SimJam]

mtorchid thanks for that idea !!!! My problem is solved