Woods suitable for mounting
 

I know that some woods are not suitable. Does anyone have a list of woods that are suitable?

I have heard that any hardwood that is non-toxic (I.e., you could burn it in a campfire or fireplace) can be used. Hardwoods I have tried: sweetgum, dogwood, maple, slippery elm, box elder. I have also successfully used cedar, highly-weathered heart-of-pine, grapevine. These are just a few native woods. Of course, some use natural cork bark and other tropicals.

My favorite found woods are eastern red cedar (some plants do better when it's been weathered a bit), crape myrtle, bald cypress, rhododendron, blueberry, and black locust. All seem to support happy roots and stay relatively intact for 5+ years in my conditions.

I use hickory bark from a tree that fell last year. Very hard and durable with lots of deep grooves and crevices. I've tried cattleya and Phalænopsis, and both took very readily to it. I've read that dendrophylax lindenii also likes hickory mounts.

I recently bought an incense cedar fence board. It is 5 1/2" / 14cm wide and 5/8" / 1.6cm thick. I sawed off sections appropriate for mounting and attached plants with a bed of sphagnum. I also recently mounted plants on sections of mesquite branch aged 2-3 years outside.

While out of town for a week, I set the mounts in basins with some water. Water remained when I returned. The cedar looked fresh as new, just wet, and the mesquite was slimy and stank. The plants were all fine.

Thanks guys.

While I won't find mesquite in my neck of the woods, there are plenty of other options. I also have some wild cherry, which I might try.

I have 9 Dendrophylax lindenii that I so wanted some hickory to mount them on. They do like it. Just cut down an old apple tree that had died and used that. Fairorchids beware the cherry tree. While fruit trees are good for orchids, fruit trees whose fruit have pits are toxic to plants.

I've tried various woods -
Oak is always a good choice, mountain laurel ( don't cut live - look for already cut and aged where trail clearing occurred), wild plum, sugar or red maple, old lilac stumps (no kidding), hard wood that is not too degraded. Aged stumps of Euonymus shrubs have worked for me as they are quite dense...But, Cherry - probably not since it degrades too fast. Nor do I recommend grape vine - I was unhappy with how quickly it deteriorated, and the roots didn't want to cling.

Experimenting with what you have near you is good - if the plant does not like your choice, its roots simply will not cling to the wood, then you can try again with another wood, or basket it until the next growth cycle.

Good luck!