mounting orchids in terrariums
 

This may be a stupid question and sorry if so....but I would love to have a natural setting in my next orchidarium (I just acquired an Exo-Terra) and I am not sure how to go about making it look natural and mounting the orchids to the walls or on floors like I have seen in pictures. Is it better to put the orchids on individual mounts or is there some secret I should know about? I see materials such as coco fiber panels and tree fern panels and I am how to mount orchids to these, if I should, and is it safe to mount a few or several orchids to them and what if they grow into each other? :scratchhead:
Just trying to get some idea's in my head before I get in a hurry and set up another wardian style case.

Hi Becca, I know that many people will mount directly to the special backing (whether it is made from coco fibre or tree fern or whatever). However, I prefer to have mine individually mounted so that I can take them out and/or move them if needed. Just a personal preference really.

Ah yes...that reminds me....I would need to be able to take them out for watering....unless there is another way for watering...but I haven't found that easy way out yet, although I have been searching and bugging the experts...lol...it just isn't possible for me to get around needing to take them out to water.

An automatic misting system would resolve that...

Maybe. Depends on how it's set up. I found misting systen only staves off the amount of time between waterings. :biggrin: I still need to assure plants get totally dunked on schedule (what ever you choose). Misting only serves to keep humidity alive, so to speak.

If you are up for it you could use this guide to build a custom background, you get far the best result this way:
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There are other guides out there that might be better.. That's just the one I used. You can mount plants directly on the background by bending little pieces of copper or aluminum wire and just use them like staples to fasten the plants on the foam.

If the tank you've bought isn't to big you can just use a hand mister to wet the background and roots about twice a week.

Unless you really want to you don't have to take the plants out or move them around, if you just don't mount them to close, there will be no problems with them growing in to each other.

Christian

Thank you! I was looking for something like that. I thought misting twice a week would be to little?

I don't understand twice a week. My guys require more frequent water/fertilizer - like every other day! They are in 90%+ humidity and still dry out because of the fans. Maybe that's the difference? We all have fans, right? :evil: Fans have been suggested here over and over. Some say 2 or more fans. I have one that blows 24/7 and tends to dry out the guys nearest the fan (go figure!) So I place certain 'chids nearest the fans and others furthest from the fans.

Hi, Ross. I think that a lot depends on what the plants are mounted on. As you know, I don't have fans. My tank is just open topped and gets air circulation from a small window up high that I keep open. The plants that I have mounted on cork get misted in the morning, and by night they have dried out. However, the ones that I have mounted on tree fern, which seems to hold on to the water, stay moist for longer. My humidity runs 80%+ - though at the moment its above 95%.

So, if the backing were moisture retentive, it could take a couple of days to dry out after its been wetted down.

I mist twice a week, sometimes a little more.. But as long as the humidity is +80% I'm thinking that the roots will absorb some water from the air. WHen I first started out I misted way to much resulting in massive root rot on allmost all my plants - after that I toned it down a lot! I think they are thriving now though :)

Christian