Moss on Mounts in an orchidarium

[JimmyTheCack]

I bought a Qt. bag of feather moss, with intentions of experimenting with a paph., a rock, and an orchidarium. I have decide against that experiment, after much thought!

However, I am curious about using the moss on some of my tanked mounts. I have Bulbo. Fascinator(Putidum), on a large stick with just enough sphag to support the plant, which is small. I would like to place live moss around it instead. Is this a good idea? How would it effect fertilization of the plant?

I have also seen Phal. Bellina surrounded in moss. I have been considering replating it. Any suggestions?

[WhiteRabbit]

[PaphMadMan]

Some very tiny species could be overgrown by moss, or moss could out-competed some species for fertilizer. A few orchids that require perfect drainage might be kept too wet by a heavy growth of moss. Moss might not respond well to levels of fertilizer you might use on orchids, and if you got die-back of a heavy growth of moss there might be rot problems.

On the other hand, almost very orchid grows naturally with some moss in the environment too, and moss growing around orchids can look great. And some moss is inevitable in a humid environment.

I think if you are careful in your choice of moss, and adapt watering etc. to the real conditions as they change (as you always should anyway) any problems would be slow to develop. Try it, and watch how things go.

[RosieC]

The standard moss that grows here (no idea what it is) started growing on some of my mounts, as well as on some of the clay pots in the green house containing masdevallia. The mounts it is growing on have large plants that seem fine with it. Some of the Masdevallia are quite small and if it starts creeping over the medium rather than just the outside of the pot I try and remove it, I actually remove it off the Masdevallia completely once a year when I repot, but otherwise it is not a problem and looks pretty. The couple of mount's it's on I've never removed it from.

But it's a more compact looking moss than feather moss. So that might help the plants, and I do keep an eye out for it starting to smother things.