Unmount or not?
 

Hi, I received my very first Bulbophyllum today, a Mastersianum, and it was mounted. I'm terrible with those. My first and only mounted orchid is just barely surviving. I think...

I live in Sweden and it's usually fairly dry in my house. 30% humidity or so. It doesn't feel like that's the best environment for mounted orchids?

Should I perhaps unmount it? It looks like it wouldn't be very difficult.

Any advice would be appreciated!

In a home, yes, unmount it. They like to be wet, wet, wet and never dry out. Look at the response I just gave in another thread to H. D. If you can find the Bulbophyllum book by Bill Thoms at a library, go read it.

that looks quite easy to unmount and most bulbos are not fussy about their roots- i dont know this particular plant but i would either unmount it or slip the mount into a pot or rest it on a bed of moss-

30% humidity will not work for this set up unless you mist it like 4 times a days

Thank you for the advice!

I have successfully removed the orchid from the mount and have placed it in some moss until I have its long term home. From what I understand it's shallow and wide, basket kind of home. The only thing I have on hand is an extra cheese form. It might be too short if I want a layer of something at the bottom? I have attached a couple of pictures of what it looks like.

It's pretty hard for me to find English books in Swedish libraries but I found Bill Thoms' talk - "Bulbophyllums: Big, Beautiful and Bizarre" on youtube and will watch that hopefully tonight!


http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CIUX5zw...ature=youtu.be

That is a good talk.

That container will work but the side holes aren't necessary, and it's deeper than necessary. Can you find a shallower food storage container?

All the containers I find have holes on the side but not at the bottom. I'll be going to a bigger town next week. Maybe they'll have something over there.

It's OK if the holes are not at the bottom. For wet-growing plants like Bulbos it's fine to have a layer of water at the bottom of the pot.

I was referring to rectangular food storage containers like this:
Food Storage Containers | GladWare
Bulbos have very short roots. Even very shallow rectangular containers are fine for them.

You can make your own holes with a small drill. In the US we have a drill called a Dreml tool. You can probably find something similar in Europe:
100 Series Corded Rotary Tools | Dremel

I use a conical grinding stone with the drill to make holes in plastic containers so I can use them as plant pots:
Dremel 941 - 5/8 inch Cone Grinding Stone — widgetsupply.com

Edited to add: If you've never drilled before, you must wear eye protection. Tiny pieces of plastic may be thrown from the grinding stone. Any store selling drills will also have polycarbonate eye protectors that fit over standard glasses.

I have drilled before.... Minus the eye protection. I'll wear them this time!

I don't suppose you have a method of making your own pots for Dracula orchids? As we are on the topic of diy... I bought myself 6 orchids I've never grown before and I'm panicking as usual. I didn't think the pots would be my greatest challenge.

Thank you for all your help so far by the way!

I haven't grown Draculas; it's too hot here. Others here have, and I hope they add some words.

Draculas present a somewhat different problem... they tend to bloom out the sides or bottom of the plant so need to grow in baskets (and ideally, hanging) I use plastic baskets (net pots) with sphagnum. They need to stay wet. Your other challenge, growing indoors, is keeping them cool, especially at night, I find that they tolerate warm days if they can get down to 20 deg C or a bit cooler at night. Cooler is better.