What kind of Orchid to buy?

[Phal Gal]

Hello!

I am new to orchids, and looking to buy one that I can mount and possibly add more plants (orchids of course) to it. I've read that corkwood is the best to mount on, but BEFORE I spend money and get in too deep, I'm looking for advice and opinions on a couple of good "beginner" (or rather, "hardy") plants.

I've read the "Phal Abuse" thread, so I will be buying from an orchid provider, not a grocery store, and I've fallen in love with a particular Oncidium hybrid.

I am open to all suggestions, criticisms, and anything else anyone can offer. I would also appreaciate if anyone can suggest great Canadian growers and suppliers.

[tucker85]

There are many good mounting materials including many types of wood, cork or my favorite, tree fern fiber. Some good orchids for mounting would be encyclias, mini-cattleyas and oncidiums. Remember mounted orchids are high maintenance orchids and you'll need to have somebody water them if you go on vacation. Marble Branch Farms specializes in mini-catts and ships some of their orchids on mounts. They also have a section on their web-site about why they like mounted orchids. Good luck.

Why we love mounted orchids and why you will too!

[Bud]

What comes to mind is Oncidium Twinkle. It is compact and fragrant...very easy to grow even mounted...I have seen it mounted in a wooden basket hung to showcase the blooms and the beautiful leaves.
Like Tucker I also like treefern especially on my mini mounted plants.
Good Luck and show us pictures of your blooms.

[Brenda Aarts]

Not sure where you live in Alberta, but paramount orchids in Calgary is one of the better Canadian vendors. I've been there and purchased and had a mail order from them. Nice quality plants. Close to me there is clouds orchids, orchids in our tropics and marsh hollow orchids depending on what you're looking for. Good luck. I personally find oncidiums tough to grow for me and my environment....I grow cats, phals, colognes & find them much easier to grow than oncids. You will find what works best for
you in time.

[RosieC]

Not sure I can give much advice, but welcome to orchid board

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

What kind of Onc are you looking at? They are a very large group of orchids with very different requirements.

Encyclia spp. or certain Epidendrum spp. can be great starter orchids for mounting.

You ever looked into Epidendrum porpax?

[Gage]

Originally Posted by Phal Gal

Hello!

I am new to orchids, and looking to buy one that I can mount and possibly add more plants (orchids of course) to it. I've read that corkwood is the best to mount on, but BEFORE I spend money and get in too deep, I'm looking for advice and opinions on a couple of good "beginner" (or rather, "hardy") plants.

I've read the "Phal Abuse" thread, so I will be buying from an orchid provider, not a grocery store, and I've fallen in love with a particular Oncidium hybrid.

I am open to all suggestions, criticisms, and anything else anyone can offer. I would also appreaciate if anyone can suggest great Canadian growers and suppliers.

I have only been growing mounted orchids for a couple of years, and I grow outdoors in South Florida. So you'll have to take my advice with a grain of salt. That said, I find that Cattleya alliance seem to love being mounted much more than Oncidiums. My Oncidiums don't like the drying out after a few hours and then having to wait till the next day to get more water, so I have to pack them with extra sphagnum moss. The only reason I have some of my Oncidiums mounted is because they like to climb upwards. I have 1 standard Brassavola nodosa mounted to treefern, 1 mini Brassavola nodosa mounted to cork, 1 Bc mounted to treefern, 1 Encyclia tampensis I recently mounted to treefern, 1 Oncidium Sweet Sugar (NOID) on treefern with LOTS of sphagnum moss added, and 1 tiny Oncidium intergeneric mounted to grapevine with lots of sphagnum. All of the Cattleya alliance are growing like crazy, but the Oncidiums really don't like to dry out so quickly. I love treefern, but I have heard great things about cork too. Hope this helps!

[The Orchid Boy]

One of my favorite cattleyas is Potinara Memoria Irene Feil 'Ruby Red'. I got mine from Iowa orchids. It is a very vigorous and hardy plant and it's blooms are sooo beautiful. It is compact and would do well on a mount. I would reccomend mounting orchids on treefern because it holds a little moisture, cork holds almost zero moisture. The orchids roots can also sometimes grow through the treefern. I've also heard that a standard Brassavola nodosa is the best beginner plant for mounting.

[Arenalbotanicalgarden]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

What kind of Onc are you looking at? They are a very large group of orchids with very different requirements.

Encyclia spp. or certain Epidendrum spp. can be great starter orchids for mounting.

You ever looked into Epidendrum porpax?

Ditto. Fragrans, Nocturnum, Cordigera. Weeds.
Cattleya skinneri, Brassavola Digbyana ( please no name Nazi's) are two others.

[Phal Gal]

Thank you everyone!

I spent a lot of time researching different orchids, and decided to rescue two phals from the Wal Mart.

One is in pretty rough shape, it has green roots, but the tips are black. Does anyone know what that means? And maybe I should have started a different thread....but....I noticed before I put it in water that there was a brown scar on the root....but it appears to have turned white. I'm hoping this is a sign of life?

I'm soaking it right now, and tomorrow I'll trim off whatever doesn't seem to have plumped up.