Darryl Venables on Tolumnia - DVOS September 2018

[SundayGardener]

I love the look and the idea of duplicating nature with mounts, but realistically I can't keep up with the water requirements. It's going to be pots. Do I need to worry about clay pots sucking moisture away from the bark? I only have 2 orchids currently in clay, and what I have done is keep part of the clay in water (but making sure the water doesn't reach up to the roots of the plant or potting media) so that the clay stays somewhat damp without anything rotting. Outdoors I much prefer clay to plastic but that's all summer plantings.

To go off topic, does a strip of SunBlaster led lights just light a single row of plants?

Back on topic...tolumnias are such feisty little spiky guys. I've decided I'm not a big fan of oncidiums but tolumnias I like!

[Dollythehun]

Mine are getting ready to bloom. I'll posts pictures. I don't have any problem with clay and bark. OW plants in clay also. You really can't over water that way. My oncidiums are in a moss mix in clay, it works for me and I wish I had never mounted the first plant for exactly your reasons.

[SundayGardener]

OK. They're potted in 1 1/2 and 2" clay pots, in small bark and perlite, and clipped in place. I have no idea why or how, but I had 2" clay pot clips in my array of supplies. They are now sitting in front of a fan under T5HO. Our local hydro store owner is not a fan of LEDs and doesn't carry much in that line. But the T5HO generate so much heat!

This thread is immensely helpful, as I really had no idea they weren't supposed to stay bareroot. I did have two that came potted with what turned out to be a generous two pieces of bark per pot. What I really had in mind long term was to pot them all together in a shallow pan, so that there would be a mix of bloom and it would just be a little different from my usual one plant one pot approach.

[Dollythehun]

Those T5s I had were SO hot! In those tiny pots and small bark, you'll have to water almost daily or at least every other day. They'll not be too wet in that set up. Keep us posted.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by estación seca

In humid south Florida, south of Miami, he often waters his mounted plants three times a day. Because of his high humidity, he waters so they are dry before 11 am, or he is worried about bacterial and fungal rots. Many are seashore plants, and they don't mind water high in dissolved minerals. Save the reverse osmosis water for other plants.

I have read and re-read this numerous times. This part confuses me. He waters them three times a day, but has them dry off by 11:00 a.m.? I have mine on a timed mister, 45 seconds, at 8:00, 11:00, and 14:00. Was thinking of adding one more a a few hours later. Wrong way to go?

[Ray]

Mine, mounted on a cedar slab, were out on my deck in southeast NC, about 1 mile from the ocean and 50 feet or so from the intracoastal waterway. They were in nearly full sun and were watered every one or two days, and have done well. I'm sure they'd do better if watered more often, but what am I, a slave to my plants? (Well...yes, but not nearly as much as in the past.)

[estación seca]

Remember Tolumnia species are mostly Caribbean. The sea coast species are wet with dew all night, and wet during the day when it rains - which is not necessarily all that often, depending on the island. However, there is usually an on-shore breeze stiff enough to blow off a hat that isn't fastened securely. The highland species get less dew but still some. Miami is extremely humid all the time, and doesn't have that much breeze. There are a lot of fungus problems with all kids of plants in the landscape, all the time.

Most of us have less relative humidity and our plants dry out faster than they would in Miami. I haven't had any rot trouble with Tolumnias, even when I was soaking them overnight 2-3 times a week.

[stonedragonfarms]

I have about 20 Tolumnia in my collection, the majority of them came either from Daryl or from the bulk group orders that he sometimes offers when importing plants. I have about a third of my plants mounted, the rest were simply tied into 2" clay pots using a bit of twist tie around the base of the plant, then out through the drain hole of the pot--the majority of these rooted extremely quickly into/onto the pots.
Mounted plants have been more trial and error; I prefer to mount on cork or tree fern, but have noticed the best results when whatever mount used is more "branch like" rather than a traditional raft-shaped mount--I'm guessing that a mount with larger surface area=less air flow in the root zone, so over the past couple years have moved to narrower and narrower mounts.
I don't have any of my collection in the greenhouse, as I maintain temps there in the cold & alpine range; but under T5HO I'm running about 50% rh; I mist plants 2x a day, usually about 6am and again about 9pm [1 hour before lights on and an hour before lights out]; I also water plants 2x a week [they get fertilized during these waterings]; the difference between a misting and a watering being the duration of water on the plant--when they're misted, it's 3-5 seconds of directed water [enough to wet down the mounts/pots and see the roots go bright green]. When watering, they get an initial 1 minute spray of room temperature water, a 2-3 minute pause, then another 30 second spray [or in the case of potted plants 6-8oz container pour-over] of fertilizer solution. I usually catch the fertilized runoff water from my mounted plants and use it on my agapanthus pots outside.
How's everybody else under lights growing?

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[Dollythehun]

Differently. Mine are in clay pots with small bark. They're close enough to the lights to be pretty red. They get watered every 4 days in the winter. Some fertilizer... A pinch to a two or three gallon container. Some sit on a humidity tray, some don't. My temps 64-77 ( low to high) today 70f. Humidity 57-69% (low to high). No misting. Everyone with any size is blooming.

	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]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

...Everyone with any size is blooming.

That would be nice to see.