Unique Mounting

[Posey]

I have some things on hyperturfa slabs too that are pretty cool. The slabs that I have were purchased on e-bay and were made for orchids or bromalids. All of them but one has a piece of driftwood embedded in it that the plant starts out on. One of them is plain and I wired a piece of lava rock to it (through the holes that were already there) to mount a Laelia milleri on.

I recently, and regretably, found out that grape vine is disasterous to use in the Gulf Coast area. LOL. I use a lot of crepe myrtle though,,,which I really like. I have several HUGE myrtle trees and just use the stuff I trim off.

I'm gonna start making my own hyperturfa mounting things. I like the fact that I can embed stuff in there and it may rot out but the mount is basically permanent.

[bodaciousbonsai]

If your going to use cork nuggets, I would suggest that you soak them for a day or two. I grow all my cat's in shallow bonsai pots. they seem to love it!

[DaveD]

Originally Posted by bodaciousbonsai

If your going to use cork nuggets, I would suggest that you soak them for a day or two. I grow all my cat's in shallow bonsai pots. they seem to love it!

I use cork bark slabs to mount orchids on, they seem to grab hold faster and more solidly

[Spider]

I agree, but not all, I have a Dendrobium pendulum on old oak bark, cork. It does stay on the mount but not as tight as the Laelias or Tolumnia. The Laelias realy cling tightly

[Tsuchibuta]

A guy that just recently joined our society after moving from the east coast did a lecture on semi hydro growing and also talked about making artificial mounts out of that black plastic fencing you can get at home depot. He rolled them into coils and filled them with a mixture of hydro rocks, coconut chips, and a little moss to get them started. He had hundreds of them and the plants grew great on them and the best part is you can add more mount if the plant over takes the mount. It is like a mount that grows with the plant. I will see if I can locate some photos. I bought a few from him late last fall and have been waiting anxiously for spring growth to arrive so I can try a few for myself.

[Becca]

Originally Posted by Spider

I would like to know if somebody have used corknuggets for growing Cattleya, not on a mount but in a pot? Can you in that case tell me about your experience?

I have recently purchased a mixture that contains cork nuggets. I have only been using it for about a month. So far the Cattleya mixture with cork nuggets seems to dry out very quickly and I grow in an orchidarium with good humidity. I am needing to water about twice a week. I am also ussing cork nuggets with phal's in a mixture of spag moss and sponge rock. So far I really like the mixture for the phals more then the mixture for the Cattleya which is made up of cork nuggets, alifor, and sponge rock if I remember correctly. I have also found with the Cattleya mixture that I can't soak my 'chids in their pot or every thing just floats up. Hope this helps!

[zlessley]

Originally Posted by Tesa

Yes, mounting needs experience. Orchids that like it wet, will grow perfectly on tree fern. But I don´t buy it anymore because of protecting the endangered population. We threaten the ferns, so don´t forget: There are no fern plantations! The ones who like to dry rapidly I mount on bark. Cork bark is good, walnut is great and normally gratis. Other fruit-tree bark like apple or peach wil do it fine as well. And there are good results on driftwood, oakwood....there are a plenty of factors, and you have to have a kind of sure instinct or green thumb. And don´t forget the moss base, what kind of moss and so on.
Don´t be shy! Mount!

Tesa

Hey Tesa, I wanted to mention that although your logic sounds..sound, many people think the same thing about cork. Most of the tree ferns that are used are already dead, and clearing them out of the forest gives more room and light for new tree ferns. When they harvest the deadfall, they are required (at least is OZ) to be careful of the crown and leave any growing epiphytes.
People were (and still are) saying that cork is endangered and we shouldn't use it... it's in danger because we DON'T use it, the wine industry has been switching more to plastic based stoppers, which has put the cork growers out of business. Cork forests (plantations, whatever) have some of the most diverse and area specific life in the world (basically, many plants and animals can only live in these forests!)

I may be wrong about the tree ferns, maybe they're wreaking havoc on that ecosystem but I have yet to see any evidence.

(reading here) actually the main problem to tree ferns would be clearcutting. So if the companies who harvest them want to stay in business, they'll have to fight against clearcutting and keep them alive...

[Spider]

I have a Tolumnia variegata mounted on Epiweb. The plant i doing fine, in fact is flowering right now with 2 spikes.

[bodaciousbonsai]

Hello, I was wondering on your culture conditions for the toluminia variegata. I have a trade in progress for a division of this species of orchid. Do they need 3500 -6000 fc to flower or do they require a low temp drop at night with high or low humidity. I have read that this orchid is difficult.

[ericst11]

no but i use liquid nail and it works geat some one i know use to own a succulent farm told me about it .and told me they made a prouduct for mounting and it basicly was liquid nail seems to work great