Mangrove Root Drift Wood

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by thepurpleorange

Hi Junebug, I was doing a search on google for mounting on driftwood and this came up. I was wondering, did you ever try mounting on this? and if so, what did you do to prepare it and how did it turn out?

I just picked up a beautiful piece of driftwood from the beach about a week ago and have been soaking it in a big (clean) garbage bin full of water (turning it sometimes as it can't all fit). Have been too scared to mount as i fear the orchid will somehow die of too much salt!

also, do you have to let it dry out a bit before you mount?
would like to know how yours went-- thanks!!

My driftwood came from the beach too. It was covered in sand and small clams, so first I made an attempt to scrub them off and then I water jetted all the crevices. Afterwards I soaked the wood in a very large container of tap water. It was large and odd shaped so it had to be rotated and weighted down daily. I let it soak for several weeks and changed the water every few days to get rid of the leached tanins and salts. Eventually I did a salinity test by taste with the use of a quick lick of my tongue.

I never officially mounted anything to my driftwood because I was fearful that it still contained salts. Last summer I further tested the wood by loosely attaching a piece of dendrobium cane that had a small keiki growing from it. The keiki responded favorably. A short time later it's roots attached to the driftwood and it grew another cane.

My driftwood has now been designated as a transition/recovery zone for keikis and rescued chids. It's a fairly large piece of wood, so I plan to let the keikis and rescues attach themselves at their own discretion.

[thepurpleorange]

Originally Posted by Junebug

My driftwood came from the beach too. It was covered in sand and small clams, so first I made an attempt to scrub them off and then I water jetted all the crevices. Afterwards I soaked the wood in a very large container of tap water. It was large and odd shaped so it had to be rotated and weighted down daily. I let it soak for several weeks and changed the water every few days to get rid of the leached tanins and salts. Eventually I did a salinity test by taste with the use of a quick lick of my tongue.

I never officially mounted anything to my driftwood because I was fearful that it still contained salts. Last summer I further tested the wood by loosely attaching a piece of dendrobium cane that had a small keiki growing from it. The keiki responded favorably. A short time later it's roots attached to the driftwood and it grew another cane.

My driftwood has now been designated as a transition/recovery zone for keikis and rescued chids. It's a fairly large piece of wood, so I plan to let the keikis and rescues attach themselves at their own discretion.

thanks for the info! I was tempted to do a similar sort of salinity test as well but couldn't bring myself to do it!

My driftwood wasn't as dirty as it mangrove roots would probably be but I when I've now mounted an orchid (after no luck finding a bromeliad to conveniently pluck off the trees...) and will monitor the roots carefully to see how they react to the wood. hoping all goes well...