Remount a Phal. deliciosa?

[JFeathersmith]

I got this little plant last summer, mounted, and in bloom. It's done pretty well - it's grown out new roots, and is currently working on new root tips, a new leaf, AND a new spike - but it's definitely not adhering its roots to this slab of wood, and at the rate the roots grow, it's going to have all its roots waving off into space by the end of the year.

If it was adhering to the wood, I'd just mount this to another piece of wood/cork to give it more room to roam, but since the roots don't attach, I'm thinking I should remove it entirely and put it on some cork, along with replacing the old sphagnum - and most likely providing some to the most exposed roots, which look like they suffer a bit where they are really exposed to the air :\ .

Does that seem like a reasonable plan?

I want to do it soon, since it has nice new growing tips on the roots, but I also don't want to disturb it too much while it's got so much going on!! I also don't want the flower spike to die off due to stress, but I'd rather move it to a better mount than see blooms this year.

There's also some very, very tiny moss (it's really moss, not algae, it just has SUPER tiny leaves) growing on the surface of the sphagnum - what are the pros and cons to transferring some of that to a new mount?

[jkofferdahl]

I wouldn't remount it, as doing so is going to disturb a relatively young plant that's just working to get itself established. Also, the mount is fresh. I'm guessing that you're watering it at least once a day since it looks so good. What is the humidity level where the plant grows? Roots seem to stick best when in a higher humidity, so that's something to look at. What I would also consider would be getting a VERY small amount of sphagnum and some fine fishing line and securing the upper roots a bit better. Give the lower root some time to make up its mind. I think you're plant will respond a lot better doing this than remounting. Also, those cedar slabs seem to be slow in absorbing water so you might try soaking the slab every couple of days.

[JFeathersmith]

*nod* Thanks! Originally I wondered about just giving it more sphagnum (and a bigger board!) but then I noticed it didn't seem to be attaching at all, and the original moss pad seems like it might be kind of old. The live moss was growing on it when I bought it last year, and the plant had the remnants of some deceased roots, so I'm not sure how long it has actually been mounted, but it didn't look very newly mounted at that time.

When the sphagnum clump feels stiff and dry, I run it under the faucet until the roots are green, which means every 2 or 3 days. I only truly soak the whole thing occasionally, so, yeah, the wood never stays damp for long. Humidity in here is typically 40-50%, but can vary from 20% in some winter months to 60% or more when it's been raining a while.

I have a couple other mounted plants that have their roots well grown into/onto their mounts - but they are on cork. They have thinner roots, which might help them wedge in there? One of those gets watered pretty much daily, but the other is on a 3-4 day schedule.

[jkofferdahl]

I think we're on to something here. Though the plant is doing OK with every other day watering, I'd urge you to water it daily. Where I grow I have higher humidity and water every single one of my mounted Phals twice each day. All in all, it costs me perhaps 15 minutes to do so, so it's not an onus! It's quite likely that simply with more frequent watering you'll see the roots adhere better to the mount, and honestly it's just about impossible to over-water a mounted Phalaenopsis, and in my experience a deliciosa doesn't mind extra waterings. Try watering more often first and see how the roots do, and if that doesn't work THEN wrap the newer roots with a small bit more sphagnum.

[estación seca]

Roots won't attach to something that's almost always dry. In your low humidity, consider setting the mount in water for several hours every day or two.

[JFeathersmith]

Okay.

I don't have a great place to set it in water for hours and also get it the same light it currently has, so what about adding a little sphagnum on the bare wood areas and watering daily? The plant I water every morning has only a thin layer of sphag on it, and the moss usually stays damp into the evening (the rest of the cork dries, but the roots have gone EVERYWHERE on that one, and seem to be attaching fine).

[estación seca]

Whatever you can do to keep the mount surface wet for as long as possible before it dries.

You might also consider finding a large glass container to use as a terrarium. I often find such things at Marshalls, Michaels and Tuesday Mornings. Or perhaps a used aquarium at a yard sale, or from Craigslist.

It is not expensive to have a piece of glass cut at a hardware store to fit on top of an old aquarium. Use epoxy to attach some inexpensive wooden drawer pulls from a hardware store.

[JFeathersmith]

I have an old fish tank on top of the toilet - it's got some potted ferns set in it but there'd be room to hang the phal - but the light is probably too dim there.

If extra waterings and sphagnum doesn't work, I'll see if one of the big jars I have around is a good fit for it - but right now, there is 0 space on the bathroom windowsill to set such a thing, and really limited window/shelf/other space in the rest of my apartment, which is a problem because, well, I'd like to get more plants.