Mount bonanza!
 

They have a custom round here. The wild olive (azebuche) grows all over, and if uncared for ends up looking like a large, twisted unkempt bush.

So, every 5 years the landowner gives the right to someone to clean all the trees, cut off all the lower branches, leave the tree looking neat, and clear away and burn all the branches and undergrowth.

Well, about a mile up the road, this week someone has been clearing such an area, so I plucked up courage and asked if I could take any useful bits for mounting orchids.

It was a long old search, because most forks are planar, and you really want branches with a fork that has a couple of bits giving just enough space to plant an orchid, but I ended up with nearly 40 mounts hanging in the workshop.

The nice thing is that wild olive is a very hard wood, and hopefully they will last a good long time.
Now at least when I go to mount the next orchids I will be spoilt for choice.

Lucky you. All ready for there orchids.

Those look like great mounts. Nicely done.

I wonder whether you could sell those on eBay inside the EU, to make some more orchid money....?

I'd bet yes.

If you consider it, search Ebay for other orchid mount listings and see what sellers are asking for them, so you can price yours for maximum orchid spending $$. ;)

---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:33 PM ----------

That's really an awesome haul of mount material, by the way. I've periodically been struck by the kinds of things that I covet and get excited about since I started growing orchids. I can linger over light sources for hours, feel happy with purchases of bark (bark, for god's sake! surely would have been less than happy with a bag of bark in my pre-orchid days) dry moss, chunks of cork, a well ventilated pot....

You can buy pieces of cork or slabs of wood on eBay. Andy's sells both rafts and sticks for mounting. When I need a stick I go into my yard and find a suitable one that's fallen from a tree (I like magnolia and oak).

Make sure you boil them before use to get rid of any nasties which may lurk in the wood.

Any particular nasties? Only I would prefer if I could keep the lichen alive.