"Extended Moisture" Mounting

[Ray]

“EXTENDED MOISTURE” MOUNTING
Epiphytes, for the most part, live attached to trees and shrubs, or with their roots in the moss growing on the surf of-, or in crevices between rocks. Many will tell you that mounting is “the best way” to grow plants, but I can tell you from personal experience that unless your growing conditions favor that method – high humidity and frequent watering – doing so can be an issue.

Why? Because mounts tend to dry out really fast. Even if you put a pad of moss over the roots, it will eventually break down and crumble away. Well… here’s a way to extend the time the mount stays moist – lightweight expanded clay aggregate – LECA!

What??? How can you use “marbles” on a mount? Easy – by gluing the pellets to it!



In this case, I use a cedar slab (sold for grilling salmon), smeared some fast-set epoxy on the surface, then poured some dry LECA onto it. It is important to use “fast-set” epoxy (I used 5-minute stuff) so that the liquid does not soak into the pellets, which would preclude absorption.

The LECA provides great texture for roots to hold onto, and will hold water for a lot longer period of time than will a plain slab.

[neophyte]

very cool! I'm always paranoid that the LECA will be too dry and start sucking water out of the roots, though... would it be stupid to try to prevent this from happening by putting sphagnum moss over the LECA?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by neophyte

very cool! I'm always paranoid that the LECA will be too dry and start sucking water out of the roots, though... would it be stupid to try to prevent this from happening by putting sphagnum moss over the LECA?

I think it's all a matter of degree.

Have you been concerned about a bare mount sucking water out of the roots? LECA will stay wetter longer than a mount.

In fact, well-saturated LECA will actually hold water for weeks. When I had shut down my greenhouse prior to it being disassembled and moved, I found a few S/H plants that had literally been left unwatered for 6-8 weeks. They were just fine, because the LECA gradually meted out stored moisture.

[neophyte]

thanks! do you think the epoxy on the wood will prevent the wood from becoming wet?

[DirtyCoconuts]

I am IN on this experiment!!!

I have a few idea and I will make them this weekend

BRILLIANT, Ray!

I have been sifting the batch of hydroton I got using 1/2” hardware cloth so I have a bunch of the smaller sized balls that i was going to use in my potting mix but this might be a better use

[AnonYMouse]

How about doing away with the plank all together? Just epoxy LECA into a form?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by neophyte

thanks! do you think the epoxy on the wood will prevent the wood from becoming wet?

I smeared the epoxy pretty uniformly, so yes.

I suppose you could dab each pellet and stick them to the slab, but you'd have to be quick!

The only reason I used the cedar was because it was available. I had planned on using a piece of plastic, to make it permanent, so am less concerned about the absorption by the wood.

---------- Post added at 08:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:31 AM ----------

Originally Posted by AnonYMouse

How about doing away with the plank all together? Just epoxy LECA into a form?

You'd have to do it pellet-by-pellet, which would get pretty tedious, and you'd need to be very careful not to saturate the LECA with the glue. Plus, LECA can break, so it might be a challenge trying to hang it.

Instead, if you wanted to try something like that, I think I'd build a form out of plastic mesh and fill it with LECA.

[thefish1337]

wouldnt hygrolon work for this as well? do you think that LECA would hold more moisture for longer?

[Ray]

Originally Posted by thefish1337

wouldnt hygrolon work for this as well? do you think that LECA would hold more moisture for longer?

Yes, hygrolon would be better, but this I have on hand!

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Ray

You'd have to do it pellet-by-pellet, which would get pretty tedious, and you'd need to be very careful not to saturate the LECA with the glue. Plus, LECA can break, so it might be a challenge trying to hang it.

Instead, if you wanted to try something like that, I think I'd build a form out of plastic mesh and fill it with LECA.

I'm just OCD enough to do it!

Now, to find the plant and design the form.

Addendum: the contact area for the epoxy would normally be the contact area for capillary action, no? If so, I would have to ensure there are multiple contact surfaces.

Or as you suggested, a frame work with mesh (wire would be my preference as it is more malleable).