Meiracyllium trinasutum--pot or mount?

[DanRichman]

Hi, all, and Happy New Year!

My question to you is this: do you think Meiracyllium trinasutum, or any orchid with a similar creeping growth habit, could be happy in a pot?

Mine came mounted on cork. Even after I covered the exposed roots with sphagnum, after watering (soaking) every morning, it is still dry as a bone at the end of every day (because of the fan, even though it's only intermittent). It's in a 22-gallon terrarium in which I'm trying to control for temperature, light, air circulation, and humidity.

I don't mind watering it every day. In fact, I enjoy it. But I worry that when I travel, it may suffer if my cat- and plant-sitter forgets. Potting it would mean less frequent waterings.

Your thoughts are appreciated.

[estación seca]

Consider getting an automatic misting system. A lot of terrarium growers use these. They are standard equipment for a lot of people who keep frogs and other high-humidity animals in terrariums.

The owner of this forum sells MistKing misting systems. There is probably a banner from his company at the top of this page.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[bjmac]

Exo terra (monsoon solo) makes a small mister if you only have one tank. It is less expensive than mist king, but not the same quality. I had the exo terra on my 18x18x24 and it work fine, but if you are going to have more terrariums go with the mist king.

[DanRichman]

Thanks, responders.

I know misting or fogging is a way to reduce watering requirements for a mounted plant.

What I'm really asking is about the merits and drawbacks of potting such a plant vs. keeping it mounted.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[estación seca]

I would approach it this way: A tiny plant in a tiny pot will probably dry out about as fast as on a mount.

Look up a recent post by Manu about how he wraps his mounts in plastic before traveling.

[Pattywack]

I have this plant, have had it for a few years. My plant is mounted on tree fern and it is growing in a small countertop greenhouse. This is not an air tight setup by any means and the plant is hanging next to the tiny fan. I spray water daily or every other day. My Meiracyllium seems to prefer a slight drying between waterings.

What I have done with some mounted plants struggling to stay moist, I set their mounts into a plastic pot with spaghnum moss in the pot. The moss holds moisture longer and the mount will wick up the water. Cork while much better looking in my opinion, is not the best for wicking water so I add moss to the mount and allow that additional moss to come into contact with the pot moss.

The thread about wrapping the mount in plastic wrap is interesting and I would certainly give that a try if needed.

Meiracyllium trinasutum flowers are beautiful and the cinnamon fragrance is very nice!

[JImG]

I would truly not worry about it. Pot or not. I have had one mounted on a tree fern mount for countless years in a greenhouse in CT. It has wrapped itself completely around the mount and is growing upon itself. In the winter I can only get there once a week to water. Normally the same during the summer although I do try to get there midweek on hot summer days to water. This all to mean that my meiracyllium dries out completely and remains that way all week until the next watering and it still grows vigorously. The residual humidity in your tank will be more than sufficient. But, to your point, if it will grow in a pot, it certainly will although I does need a substrate to grow upon. And moisture will help that out a lot. I have taken piece of the main plant off and given them away and plopped them onto the pots of other orchids and they grew, eventually crawling off the sides of the pot and clinging to them. Growing on a terracotta pot is even better than growing on bark mulch. Mine blooms religiously every year with very little care. With yours in an accessible tank, you can baby it and it will flourish. Hand misiting once in the morning and again in the evening will be fine. Hope this helps.