Dumb Newbie Questions about Watering Mounts
 

I am within days of ordering my first mounted plants--mostly stick mounts I believe: Angraecum didieri, Gastrochilus somai, Sediria (Aerides) japonica, and Haraella oderata (hope I got those spelled correctly). I understand these are "easy" as mounts go and may make a good step out from all the Phals and Paphs I have. The vendor has guidelines for watering frequency, as do many books and posters here. But I can't seem to find a an answer to the most basic question of all: HOW do you water a mounted plant? Do you submerge it in a bath three times a week? If so, to what depth (most of the above orchids are miniatures)? And for how long? Do you spray them until they and their mounts are saturate? Is it some sort of combination?

Any tips for a guy who needs a road map for just about anything?

Hi Chopster! :waving
No such thing as a dumb question here! Believe it or not, you are not the first to ask these questions. You also are helping others who may not know and are afraid to ask.
Everyone has a different way, I am sure, depending on what type of set up they have for their hanging orchids. I have my orchids out in my sunroom, so I can't hose them or anything. I have a dishpan that I use just for my orchids and I have to haul all my chids to the sink. I lay my stick orchids in the water and let them soak for about 10 to 15 minutes every other day (never submerging blooms, but try to submerge all roots) and I fertilize every other watering. I refresh the water often, but not with each orchid, which is a no-no to orchid growers....but I have many orchids and can't justify using that much water. Anyway, for my really small mounts, I use a shallow casserole dish (8 x 8 x 2) that I've pretty much dubbed a watering dish for my small mounted chids.
Mounted chids tend to dry out quicker than potted chids, so I suggest watering every other day. Hope this helps.
I am sure you will get many different ways to water. :)

Hi chopster,
I am so glad you've ask a very good question, because I too would like to know about 'watering mounts'.

I love the look of mounts, but I my vandas are taking up most of my 'orchid watering time'.

It looks like pots for my phals for the time being!

Thanks for your 'not so dumb' question!:nod:

I spray mine heavily every day at the root zone.

Are you growing in the house, outside or in a greenhouse(gh) Chopster? Each will dictate differently how you can water and frequency too... In the gh I either hit my mounts with water sprayed from the hose or drench them with water from a watering can; but getting water on the floor is of no concern :) When I grew under lights I used the dunking method as outlined above, but my humidity was quite low indoors so I watered every day in the morning and would mist my mounts again in the afternoon...
Which brings up the question, what is your humidity like in your growing area?
Adam

Me too. Mine are outside, so I just keep a weak fertilizer solution in a gallon pump sprayer. I try to wet the entire mount and root-zone on hot sunny days. On the weekends I haul the hose out and really drench them. I am a forgetful waterer, so I frequently miss a day or two.

Mine are in the house with relatively high humidity. I mist mine every morning - misting heavily so that the entire mount and roots are wet. I then take mine to the sink for a good soak once a week as well. I use a very weak fertiliser mix with almost every watering.

Mine (as most know) are in a tank with 90+% humidity and misted every 4 hours for 5 seconds. This wets the root zone of all the mounts. The few I have iin a windowsill get submerged every day.

Mine are usually watered (generously) with the shower setting of my hose attachment.

Nothing beats a good soaking in a container of water or water fertilizer mix.

Wow! What a lot of responses, and what a range!

I live in Iowa. Right now humidity is no problem, but come winter it will be another story. I live in a small spot in the country where I grow my orchids in two eastern windows with nicely recessed sills and on two five foot shelves, each of which is lit by four four-foot HO T8 bulbs that I really had to search for. Their output is pretty extraordinary for T* flourescents. he shelves have humidity trays and there are humidity trays with plants on shelves abutting the window sills, too. No greenhouse --yet, LOL! (Though this terrarium concept is sounding quite interesting.)

Anyway, the mounts I am planning to purchase are low and medium light plants that should do well in the eastern windows. (I'm thinking the Haraella oderata may be a little more difficult than I had first imagined and I may not get it.) I'm busy preparing the sills, lining the sides with plastic so I can spray with impunity and securing chains hanging from the top to the bottom at the left and right sides of each ofthe sills. I will attach the mounts running vertically up these chains. Each side of the two window sills gets a different amount of light (funny how the sun never seems to really rise exactly in the east, isn't?) and I can separate lower and medium light plants on the chains accordingly.

Right now I have no trouble getting about 60% humidity without taking any measures at all except the nearby trays. My plan, based on all your great advice, is to bathe the mounts 2-3 times a week (once a week with fertilizer) and "mist" heavily twice a day. If that doesn't seem to be enough, I'll go to daily baths as Ross suggests. I won't really have that many to begin with, so that shouldn't be a problem if it becomes necessary. I admit I have "the fever" but I haven't quite re-outfitted my whole place around my orchids--yet.

Thanks so much for such a wealth of info!

Charlie