Hygrolon prototype setup

[Paul Mc]

I've had such a fascination with this material since I've heard of it! Looks wonderful! Please keep us informed on any and all things you encounter. I want to learn more.

[Mossman]

I´ll keep you updated...altough plants is a relatively slow
process=)

I looked at the mount I made with the stone and thought it looked way better then the other two.
It got me thinking of aquascaping or vivariums mimicing nature.
Is there a thing like orchid-scaping?
If not, maybe there is now=)

Where can I get miniature plants that will live in these conditions? Like miniature ferns or things that can be added to create a more "foresty" look, that would be amazing.
I´m gonna buy some bonsai type stones for my next mount.

I added some stones to my other two seedling mounts.

[Mossman]

So these are the hanging hygrolon tubes I am building.
They are 40cm tall and are made out of acrylic. I´m still waiting for some acrylic cement so they wont be finished until that arrive.
For the moment they have no bottom.

The lianas are made from some kind of electrical cable which has a aluminium coating on the inside which makes it rigid but moldable to any shape you want.
Perfect for making a liana!

Other then that I bought some chain by the meter and some s-hooks.

[Mossman]

Can someone tell me why in the last post the images appears as "attached images" and in the previous posts as "attached thumbnails"?
I want all pictures to be thumbnails, how can i change this?

Anyway, I made this today.
The orchid mounted is a Dendrobium Tangerinum

[Mossman]

Just a small update on the orchids.
The hanging tube looked amazing but didn't work in practice.
I had to fill it up once a day with water and that is not practical for me. The top water got sucked up immediately and the bottom half was to far down for the hygrolon to be sucked up.
If I would have done the tubes today I would have hanged
them horizontally.

Anyway, moss is starting to really kick in on the first ones I built and I have recently built some more.
Just look at these pictures.

[Duff]

Hi Mossman, they are all quite lovely and inspirational! I just started playing around with hygrolon -such interesting material. Looking forward to seeing your future updates. Keep up the amazing work. I like the idea of orchiscaping - make the non-blooming orchids look spectacular.

I'm in the US but I best if you search for terrarium or vivarium supplies/plants you will find quite a few mini plants, moss and a few ferns that would be happy. Especially mosses.

Duff

---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 PM ----------

Oh, and here are a few that might fit right in to your plantings - I have these and will give a bit of info based on my luck with them... Hope this helps

Quercifilix zeylanica A bit larger leafed (2.5cm) and likes humidity

Ficus pumila var. quercifolia - Oak Leaf Creeping Fig - small oak leaf like leafs about 1cm in size - slow to start but once settled vines nice and compact

Sinningia sp. 'Rio das Piedras' Micro-Mini (Gesneriads) - small flowering plant - moist feet dry leaves about 2cm in size

Peperomia meridiana - small round leaves about 1.5cm lovely red stems - small bush like growth

Peperomia sp. 'Kuanca Banba' - vine like bush - small 1cm leaves

Ficus pumila var. minima (Similar or oak leaf ficus) small leave about 1cm vines nice and compact

Bolbitis heteroclita - like high humidity - compact leaves about 5cm long - fern like

Davallia parvula - high to medium humidity tiny tiny fronds - about .5cm vine type plant but compact

[isurus79]

Cool project! I'm surprised I didn't see this one earlier. Have you tried using Masdevallias this way? I bet they would do very well.

[birdybrain]

I absolutely love this look! Both more natural and minimalist at the same time. I like the look of mounted orchids, but I think I'd have to water daily in my growing conditions, so a potted hygrolon mount seems like a great idea! Thanks so much for posting these pics, I'm definitely going to look into doing something like this.

[Mossman]

Thanks for the replyes!

I really have no money to spend on orchids right now but
will look into the plant tips later=)

I built a seed propagator that have successfully sprouted some pistachio and some morning glories.
Right now I'm trying some other seeds as well.
I'm thinking that the seeds are moist in a aerated environment without the chance of growing mold.

I also have a smaller Propagator which I have placed some wildly collected mosses on. Most of them are doing great.

This is my orchid list so far.

Dendrobium Tangerium - Growing good
Cattleya luteola - Stagnant, very slow growth
Phalaenopsis sp - Shooting out crazy amount of roots
Phalaenopsis Lobii - Slow growth of roots
Dendrobium Bellatulum - just mounted
Dendrobium Peguanum - Unmounted. Lost leaves in shipping but is shooting out flowers in terra cotta pot on propagator. The terra cotta is soaking up water from the
propagator
Dendrobium Scabrilingue - Stagnant, still looks green though, hopefully it will catch on.
Grosourdya appaediculata - Shooting roots down into moss, growing good.
Phalaenopsis Schilleriana - Looked kinda bad on arrival, hopefully it will recover.
Schoenorchis fragrans - looks happy
Tuberolarium quisumbingii - Just mounted. Roots was was messed up on arrival, hopefully will recover.
Trichopilia Marginata - Unmounted. Will make some kind of hanging pot with hygrolon as substrate.

I wonder how Carnivorous plants likes hygrolon?

[Vanda lover]

One good way to get moss to grow is to collect a little of your favourites and mix them with either beer or yogurt. Put it through a blender and paint it on where you want it to grow. Keep it misted to get it started. I have used this method outdoors. Here moss grows everywhere, even at the base of our car windows, so I no longer need to bother.