C. aclandiae and wine corks experiment

[hiimisis]

Hi OB!

I recently bought a pair of little Cattleya aclandiae plants, and I thought this would be a good opportunity to experiment. I've read that these plants can be finicky because they need to dry out really quickly and have high humidity and they do best when mounted. I just recently saw an orchid growing in wine corks and thought it was super neat, and as I've read up on it, it seems like people have pretty good success. I even read somewhere that it's the next best thing to mounting!

So I thought, what the heck, I'll give this a try - I have wine corks and a plant that's growing, and it might like it!

This is what I came up with - I made a pot out of a plastic cup (approx 3in) with tons of ventilation holes, and I cut my corks in half so they fit better. The plant is nice and snug with lots of air around the roots. Definitely drains quickly, not sure about helping humidity though.

I think it looks cute, but I'm really not sure how this will turn out! If it starts to crash, I'll take it out and mount it The other plant will stay in the little basket it came in for now.

I'll keep you posted!