Need Advice: Mounting C. aclandiae seedling
 

Hi,

I recently purchased a C. aclandiae seedling that is currently potted in a 2" clay pot with a wad of sphagnum moss. I would like to move this seedling to a mount or basket because keeping it in its current pot and media is not an option (I grow outside in S. Florida with no protection from rainfall). This seedling would receive full morning to 50% morning/afternoon sun and then shade in the late afternoon.

I would like to put it in a basket, but I am not sure if starting it off in a small net pot filled with a tiny bit of sphag would work. Would the small net pot pose any problems as the seedling grows? The other option is to mount it to tree fern, but I am reluctant to mount an aclandiae to tree fern as I have heard that these sometimes stay to wet for aclandiae. My other BS aclandiae is growing in a basket with a bit of coarse bark and lava rock and my aclandiae hybrids are growing in the same manner; they seem to be doing well.

What should I do? :)

If you want it in a basket, then that what I would do. The key will be humidity.... I think you'll be ok on that!!!!

I like to pot in to the size basket I want the plant to end up in. I don't like to repot. So, I stay away from bark and moss. But I have used a hydroton moss mix for potting new seedlings and divisions. As the moss decomposes I add more hydroton.

i like coconut fiber in net pots or baskets. It should be fine for that in FL

Thanks, Keith and Stefano. :)

Ideally, I would like to move it to a 6" octagonal plastic basket that I already bought for it last weekend. Maybe I can line the basket with coconut fiber (as I have with my other aclandiaes) and situate in such a way that it is in its current clay pot with a bit of hydroton and a wee bit of sphag, and tied inside the basket on top of some hydroton?

I meant the loose stringy coconut fiber, works well for me. I did not mean the coco fiber liners.

Yes, that is what I understood you to mean, which is the same that I also use. :)

you can plant the C. aclandiae in anything that doesnt stay wet too long. In my own world, wet overnight is too long. I plant mine in granite chips so I get to water them everyday. I like to water them and now being buried in granite chips they look forward to a drink everyday ;)

not what ya plant em in its how you water what ya planted em in

RJ, being wet overnight for multiple nights is not uncommon here in the summer. Watering is not a big deal to me either. :)

Thanks for all the advice! I repotted the seedling with hydroton and a tiny bit of sphag resting on top and then I tied it to the center of the octagonal basket that was lined with coconut fiber strands and hydroton around the small 2" clay pot inside. :)

I am in South West Florida in Fort Myers and have mounted thousands of orchids.

I do not recommend mounting seedlings of any Cattleya. I find it slows growth. I can grow a 2 inch seeding to flowering size in 12-16 months (in sphag) whereas the ones I mounted four years ago are just starting to flower this year.

Seedlings need much more water than mature plants and I do not let my Cattleya dry for more than a day or two. They are growing outside now in the rain, which is more on the Gulf coast than you have on the Atlantic coast.

Mounted Cattleya need watering almost everyday like Vanda. During our dry winters they stop growing without the constant water and it takes months to start again.

I used to put sphag in the bottom of my baskets but with many baskets rotting in under 2 years I have stopped. In Florida, I recommend a 50-50 mix of bark and charcoal which is a very dry mix but only on mature plants.