Catts and Dends on Mounts?
 

Hey! I've branched out and brought home a Dendrobium and Cattleya! *happy dances* I'm limited on space and have a weakness for mounting, so I just wanted to see if these babies were good options for this? The Catt is a baby still and is in a tiny 2inch pot and is pretty happy so I'm not in a BIG hurry, but I'd like to get my plans set! I have a few mounted Phals, would the care be similar?

Of course the light requirements are different for those orchids. During the growing season they can all be watered every day on mounts. One difference is that you can go away for a few days and leave the cattleya and dens without water and they'll be fine. The phal will dehydrate pretty quickly if it's left without water.

and remember, that Catts and Dens being sympodial will 'spread out over the mount, so be sure to use a mount that is big enough for room to grow

Great! Thanks for that info, it's exactly what I was looking for! One last questions though (if you're lucky!!), the Den is packed with spag moss and I always pull it off my Phals and re-pot. I don't know how Den roots are, would this be a good idea to make sure there isn't any rot? Or do they hate being messed with?

I would look at the roots to make sure the roots are okay. The plant will do better being repotted with good roots rather than waiting until you have rotten roots.

On the Dendro: The roots are firm and white/green. I don't think they have been in spag moss for long since I found a two inch root ball with bark bits in the center! I was able to get this shipment fresh off the truck, so I think I was able to avoid any rot.:biggrin: One of the buds is drying out though, so I hope the change to my home won't cause it to loose all of it's flower buds! :( Should I cut off the drying bud, or let it fall on its own?

On the Catt: The roots are all over it's baby pot, some are dried out, but most of them are green like Phal roots. It only has 3 leaves, but they are firm, bright, and fleshy so all seems good there!:biggrin: It's baby pot has bark bits as well.

I have a beautiful chunk of cedar (a few actually) I got from my old property before moving and it's in storage with the rest of my life! I've been living in a studio the size of two closets (seriously, its TINY!!) for 9 months and am about to hang myself!! I miss country life... *mourning*

I'm over my moment of sadness now ;) I really want to mount one on that, but I don't know when I will be able to get it... Can I clean off the roots and let them bare root it for a while as long as I keep the humidity up?

On a side note... My hubby and I own our own home service business (windows/gutter/etc) and at one of our houses today I saw the owner had about 6 orchids (phals/dends) and the phals were LOADED with keikis!!!:bowing I was so tempted to snip one and run off with it! :rofl: I didn't though... ;) The point was this: the keikis had 3-4 leaves each and were waving around in the air like a free birdie! Roots everywhere! So it made me think back to the way nature grows these babies and now I'm even more fiendish for mounting!:evil:

I would just let the buds fall off on their own but I guess you could remove it. Why not wait to unpot the plant until you get the mount? The less stress the better. If the roots are rotting then you should take it out of the pot now but if they are fine I would keep it potted until you get your mount.

I took all the soggy moss out as I have seen most all of the orchids from stores end up with rot before long... I have it sitting in its pot with a bit of moss at the bottom and all the bark/moss that it had in it's tiny pot before the growers packed it for shipping. Basically the roots grew into the old media and have anchored in around it, so it's like a self potted Den, haha! All joking aside, do you think it will be fine like that? Or should I put new moss back around it for now? Pics coming shortly!

Pics!!!
 

Ok, so these three are on my new Den NOID... It's shelf mates were a white flowered variety and had labels, but none of the purple ones did... I bought the purple one because it had the best growth and lots of new leaves and flower spikes!!!:evil: Alas, that left me with no name though... Or class... :( Does anyone know what class this might belong to? I'd like to get it's care down before wrecking havoc on it!!:rofl: The flowers stem from the tip of green canes on spikes much like a Phal, not from dead ones or from the cane itself... Hope that helps narrow it down...

Your Den is a Phalaenopsis type Dendrobium. I don't grow these right now (I did when I first started growing orchids) so I don't know much about the culture. You should be able to find something online. Or you can ask on here in the dendrobium forum. I think the plant should be fine with the moss you have around the roots. When are you going to mount it? I do know that these can get really tall pbulbs (or canes). I had one that was so tall with its spike it hit the ceiling when it was sitting on my kitchen counter. I'm not sure if yours will get that big though. How are you planing on mounting it? Are you going to have the canes hang down?