Manu, I'm going to sort of side with Ray here. As an example, cornu-cervi will do wonderfully on a mount if it's watered at least daily and kept in a place where the humidity is about 55%. In this humidity the roots will be fine exposed. However, drop that humidity to about 20%, typical in a house with AC or heat running, and the same plant is going to be most unhappy. Pots are a human adaptation intended to enable a grower to keep roots moister in less than ideal conditions.
In nature, most orchids are arboreal. Sure, you'll find terrestrial orchids, too, and with them a pot makes more sense. But most grow by clinging to tree branches and trunks with their roots, so naturally mounted. This natural habit is why sellers such as Andy's mount most plants. But the same orchid naturally grows in an environment perfectly suited for it. The further we, as growers, remove the plant from a natural habitat, the more we have to adapt growing methods to make up for less than ideal conditions. In the conditions which favor a given plant species, any arboreal orchid will do better mounted, and, in fact, in near ideal conditions the adaptation of putting the plant in a pot will hinder it.
The only orchids I grow are orchids which do well in conditions similar that a Phalaenopsis prefers, especially temperature and humidity - I can easily move a plant to get more light if it can deal with the temperature and humidity. And a whole lot of my Phals and other genera are mounted.
|