Your help with Onc. Sharry Baby repotting

[Dollythehun]

Originally Posted by bil

I think that if you did mount it, the aerial roots would stop being produced and gradually die off, equally if not, once it is established you can always cut off the troublesome ones.

Interestingly, I am finding that the drier and more open the media is with epiphytes, the heavier the root growth becomes.. It's as if the more they have to work for their water, the better they grow.

Can you post a pic please?

I would look at a branch mount if it is an odd shape. I find that if you have a variety of branch shapes to look at, sooner of later one will fit.

I should have done that last night. Will do it in a bit...

[Dollythehun]

Originally Posted by bil

I think that if you did mount it, the aerial roots would stop being produced and gradually die off, equally if not, once it is established you can always cut off the troublesome ones.

Interestingly, I am finding that the drier and more open the media is with epiphytes, the heavier the root growth becomes.. It's as if the more they have to work for their water, the better they grow.

Can you post a pic please?

I would look at a branch mount if it is an odd shape. I find that if you have a variety of branch shapes to look at, sooner of later one will fit.

bil, here you go. I am probably not going to mount but, I would consider a basket, although, how could it be kept moist enough?

[jkofferdahl]

Personally, I would leave those long, long aereal roots out of a new pot. Putting them into any media is quite likely to kill them anyway.

Now, while I can see that it's a large plant, so one that might take a little extra care when mounting, I see it as a good candidate. Those roots would be great for wrapping about a mount to help secure the plant. And I've not had trouble with aereal roots on mounted plants. So long as they have some humidity they love to grow.

[Dollythehun]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Personally, I would leave those long, long aereal roots out of a new pot. Putting them into any media is quite likely to kill them anyway.

Now, while I can see that it's a large plant, so one that might take a little extra care when mounting, I see it as a good candidate. Those roots would be great for wrapping about a mount to help secure the plant. And I've not had trouble with aereal roots on mounted plants. So long as they have some humidity they love to grow.

😞

[estación seca]

It's Sharry Baby. It's supposed to be one of the easiest orchids to grow. Just cram it in a pot and stop worrying.

I wouldn't mount an Oncidium hybrid unless you're 100% sure you will have time to water it every day for the rest of your life. They're water hogs. You have central heating, and humidity is low in the winter, so you might have to water a mounted plant twice a day in the winter.

And if you look through old threads, people complain it gets enormous really fast. Would you be able to move a colossal haystack of mounted Sharry Baby?

[Dollythehun]

Well, those were exactly my thoughts. Cram it is. The original question was to cram or not to cram.

[jkofferdahl]

Oy. Cram it, Carol.

[bil]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Oy. Cram it, Carol.

Sounds like a song title....

[bil]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

bil, here you go. I am probably not going to mount but, I would consider a basket, although, how could it be kept moist enough?

TBH, I think that you are worrying unnecessarily. It really isn't that big IMO. I had a zygopetallum that was bigger, and it never occurred to me not to mount it. You just need a big enough branch with a suitable fork. Wrap all those roots around, cover them with moss, and wind on some line to hold it in place. I would use a decent amount of moss, as much as will keep it happy on one watering a day in summer.

One alternative would to be to mount it on a bit of ply like I did with that den phal. I'll shove the pic on here. Using that technique you can add a bit more moss till you find the right wetness level.

If you would rather pot, I would get an azalea bowl or something of that ilk, - that would be a tad deep for fine bark, so I would put a layer of coarse bark in (remember to sieve it). Then I would stand the plant on that bark, spread the roots out in a flat layer, cover it with sphag balls about 2 " in diameter, but well spaced so that there is about two inches between each ball. Then I would fill the spaces with fine bark so the fine bark was just two inches deep. I deally that would fill the pot as deep as necessary, so you basically want to put the coarse bark in first to a point two inches below your desired top of the media.

Three rocks around it to hold it steady ill the roots grow, and that should do it for a couple of years at least.

I think a basket is doable, I'd use coarse bark in as a layer, put a thin layer of moss on that, sit the plant on that, put another thin layer of moss on that, and fill to the top with coarse bark.

Hope that helps.

[bil]

stupid duplicate post...