Should I attempt my first mount with this plant?

[nenella]

Hi Rosie,
I agree with epiphyte & in my experience it seems to grow better with more moisture...but I have had mine only since summer 2009. It was in a tiny, tiny pot .. I decided to repot onto an epiweb slab with bottom formed into a 'pocket' & added some sphag.

I soon noticed that it was drying out extremely quickly (even spraying daily)
I decided I needed something to hold more moisture and found a container it fitted into.
I have since always had a couple of centimeters of water at the bottom. The plant has now doubled in size although I have no idea about how to now make it flower?
Here are a couple quick pictures of my option/different setup.
I hope this helps in deciding what to do with yours & I look forwrard to following this project & how everyone with difffernt experiences gets on (I didn't sign up on this as I already had one)

[RosieC]

Thanks Karren & Nenella.

It looks like that tree fern could stay quite moist, bet that's why it works well on that. Not sure if I can get hold of that here in the UK or not

Interesting setup Nenella, hmm this has all given me a lot to think about. Maybe I will keep it as it is for now and when a keiki is bigger try that mounted. I will have to look arround for the right mount anyway.

[Lorraine]

Hi Rosie,

Did you ever find a mount for your den? I have 2 mounted. One is on tree fren and the other is on a grapevine wreath. Since it need more moisture I added spag. moss by tucking it into the woven areas and just wrapped fishing line around the den. Here are pictures of each mount. They started out as 3 small plants from Andy's and as they grow I tuck the longer pieces into a bare area. I used 1 plant on the grapevine wreath. Hope this helps.

[RosieC]

Those look really good Lorraine.

No I've not mounted it yet, probably thinking of doing one of the keikis. Good to see yours are doing so well mounted, especially love the look of the grapevine wreath.

[Bird Song Farm]

Excellent job Lorraine. They both are very nice.

Al

[gnathaniel]

Wow, Lorraine, terrific loddigesiis! What a great species this is...

Rosie, I recommend keeping your plant as one piece rather than separating off the keikis to mount. A small piece will take a long time to get back to blooming size and removal of that growth will retard your larger plant's blooming as well. I think of these plants as having a vining habit; they tend to send out new growths from both bases and tips of old growths. Besides, if you leave it all together you'll have plenty more keikis within a few years.

As Lorraine's plants show off beautifully, mounting seems like the best way to grow these. They grow fine in pots but because of the 'vininess' they get pretty untidy, whereas on a mount you can just tie stray bits down to another part of the mount.

Mopani, cork, treefern, rhododendron, grapevine, and various other slow-rotting materials all work great as mounts. If you're worried about moisture put a nice thick sphag pad under the plant. With a solid piece of wood I sometimes drill a bunch of holes through it to increase surface area and moisture retention and to give the roots more places to wander.

Nenella, your plant will bloom best with a seasonal cycle to mimic its natural climate. Throughout the winter, sharply reduce (but not eliminate) water, eliminate fertilizer, and increase light until you see buds forming or new growth starting. Giving it at least a couple of weeks with nights around 60 F/16 C or below will also help induce budding.

I hope all your plants grow like weeds!

--Nat

[RosieC]

Thanks Nat, sounds like good advice, I like your description of it as a 'vining habit' because that describes well the large one I saw yesterday in a nursary, it was massive and had roots all up and down the mass of it.