Which wood?
 

Is white ash a good wood on which to mount? How about cherry? Thanks!

I found a person online that sells fairly large slabs of wood very inexpensively. I ordered two and they are beautiful! I wanted to make sure that they were ok before I went ahead and mounted some plants on them.

Thanks.

They will be fine for mounts although you don't need anything expensive. I use pine, fir, and spruce for my mounts. Here are some pictures. You can use most anything for a mount. An old tree branch even.

I agree that about anything will work. I go to our local lumber yard and go through the cutoffs and find all kinds of neat stuff.

I got plenty of Guava roots. They are as thick as large branches. I know Guava bark is high tannin,do not know about it's roots though.
Would it be OK to use as a mount?
It has been sitting out in rain and hot sun for about 4 months now if 'seasoning' is required.

I would bet that the guava would be just fine. I like to use irregular pieces of wood, which I find, plus four in. wide by eight inch long planks of cedar. I have found that although pretty,it's difficult to re-mount the ones which are on uneven bark or wood; sooooo I prefer the smooth cedar. BettyE.

I guess any wood that not been treated is ok.

However bare in mind that that orchids have long life and you do not want to be in a situation where the lifespan of your mount is much shorter that your plants.

Therefore in the long run, it's better to get something more dense.

I have only mounted orchids on oak & cedar. I have noticed something about the cedar mounted ones, however. They never seem to have pests on them, as ocassionally the other oak mounted orchids do. Something about the cedar may be repelling the bugs. I haven't done any experimenting with this, but that would be great...BettyE

Tabebuia caribe.
Google Freund flowering trees.
Put the orchids on the live tree. You can keep it in a 25 gallon container if you feel you need to move it around.

Acnistus arborescens is the #1 tree for epiphytes.No contest.T. Caribe is a distant second. I don't know if it's available in Floridastan. Maybe at Ernesto's green earth.

there are two very popular and available options here in colombia, crescentia cujete and coffea sp, i haven't got the opportunity to try them but everybody recommends it

Cedar is some times as a natural repellent for some pests like flees and ticks.

It repels many insects. I buy it by the sack full(shavings from the sawmill) to use as mulch.
I made the mistake of mixing 100 lbs in my compost pile. All of the worms left !

Now I consider this GREAT information! From now on, my orchids which are mounted are going to slowly be changed to cedar planks! Thank you soooooo much. BettyE.

It's true. My partner is a guitar builder and he works a lot with cedar wood. It repells insects and other "beasts".

I have a keiki I want to mount soon, and had woundered about ceder, but was not sure if it would harm the plant.
I am happy to know that it will not, because there is a man not far from me that uses it for crafts.
Not expensive and nearby.
THINK YOU.

Hmmm...I'm gonna look for cedar then. :)

Not unless your orchid has taste buds :biggrin:

:rofl:
But then if they do how would you know?

I have orchids that I bought already mounted. When I mount one from scratch, I think I will try cedar. I believe Cedar repels moths that eat wool as well. That is why people sometimes have cedar closets.

Well, what I know:The orchids that I have mounted on Cedar do not get any kind of "bugs" eating them. So, as far as my mounted orchids go, they will ALL be mounted on Cedar from now on! BettyE.

Hi James, I saw the photos of the mounting, and I have a ? for u. What r those holes in the wood and why? Thanks

Question: If cedar is that good, then would it not be a good idea to put a few cedar shavings in the pot with all plants?
Not enough to change its water holding abilities, just a small amount, 10% maybe.

Could be a good idea. I'll give it a try.

I like this idea also! Since I've be experimenting on my orchids for over forty yrs.....why not try another experiment? What the heck, it might even keep spider mites away, too...BettyE.

And mounts don't always need to be made of wood. Two examples. Both work very well too. The first is just the old rizome wrapped in spagnum moss with thin phone wire (it's all I had on hand), and the second is made of hardware cloth (1/4 inch wire from home depot wrapped into a tube with spagnum stuffed down inside) with the catts wired to it. It stays wet for a couple days keeping moisture around the rizomes. Eventually I will have a couple dozen orchids growing on it. My plan is to have flowers for most of the year in bloom on it at any given time. Well that's the plan anyway. I'll post as it happens.

Hi. I was thinking about the guava tree, it's very hard. My neigthbour has a tree and the branches come to my yard, but I asked him and he said I have to wait, but I want to try it.Here in Miami I found a place that sells tree fern fiber, not bad, all sizes, check "my new mount" I got it there. norma

Norma, I, personally use cedar whenever I mount an orchid now. Mainly because it discourages insects. Another reason, is that the smooth cut cedar plaques are easy to remove a division from. Not so, with pretty, but rough bark wood surfaces. Just my opinion...BettyE

Has any one tried Eucalyptus?