Today's mounting project

[gixrj18]

Today, I divided my L. purpurata var carnea for a re-pot, and instead, decided to cut an old cypress tree trunk I had, in half. The center was rotted out, so cutting it in half created a basket, of sorts. Throw in a few lifting eyes, some moss, and some chain, and you've got a multi-plant mount with a nice, "swampy" look. So I not only mounted L. purpurata var carnea, but I also threw my new Epi. pseudepidendrum on there with it, and still had a nice spot left for my Brazilian fern.

[cb977]

Love it!!!

[shakkai]

Very nice! It does have a 'swampy' feel... the plants look happy to make it their new home!

[michael_exler]

nice job jasen, how did you secure the plant to the mount?

[gixrj18]

To secure the plants, I simply hide a couple of screws in strategic points, beneath the moss. Only screw them in about half way, that will give you a nice anchor. Then, you just take a long peice of plastic-coated wire, and wrap from one screw, over the root-ball, to the other screw. Pull tight, get a couple wraps, and back to the other screw, each time crossing between different stalks on the plant. Do this 3-4 times, depending on size, and it puts equal pressure on all sides of the root-ball. Therefore, making the plant stand nice, and steady. Then, simply cover the area with moss, tucking it in the roots, to keep it from falling off.

[OrchidTess]

Great job! Impressive. Please take pics again when everything is more established.

[Lorraine]

Love the cypress wood mount Jasen. What a great idea. I like the idea of having several orchids in the same mount. Wouldn't it be great if they all bloomed at the same time? I've been wanting to get one of the L. purpurata var carnea plants, but so far haven't found a reasonable source. Is the cypress wood very heavy??

Lorraine

[gixrj18]

Cypress is extremely light, almost like balsa. I got this L. purpurata var carnea (and most of my orchids) from "Rozanski's House of Orchids". It was blooming when I bought it, one of the most beautiful of my collection. That's a picture of it, on my avatar. I recently divided mine, but I promised someone first crack at it. It's been a week, if they don't get a hold of me in the next couple days, it will be up for trade. It is also one of the healthiest-looking plants I have, it has very thick pseudobulbs, and the blooms are the size of my hand!

[justatypn]

Great mounting Jasen ... the beauty of the group should be astounding when in full bloom. Blasted shame it's to big for my growing area...did a copy paste on the vendor than the size of the blooms came along ... it will have to be one for me to admire.