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Mounting a Phalaenopsis

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Hi all
i have 4 Phalaenopsis orchids and i was wanting to mount one on some drift wood.ect
i was wondering if this is a good idea, if its good for beginner growers and how i would mount and care for it once it is mounted
Please LMK
enoc22
 
I have 1 of these myself. I do not think that they would normally grow on driftwood. Use LFS and bark.
 
i would look up ona website such as www.orchidlady.com , i would'nt try phalenopsis though , there roots don't cling on to things very well but if you wanna try then lets see what happens . driftwood is not very good , you could try the tree fern bark panels that pft offers here for a very good price of you can't try ot find anohter type of wood .
 
I love growing orchids in a mounted fashion but be sure your growing area is very humid or you may not succede as the roots of mounted orchids must be misted everyday and fertilized almost every other day and inbetween misting and fertilizing they must not be able to totally "dry out" as they need at leat 50% humidity to keep from drying up and wilting.

Phalenopsis are fantastic and easy starter species to grow on driftwood, cork bark, fern panels, a piece of plywood, etc. The velamen on their roots will eventually cling to almost anything (even plastic!). But you will need to tie them on until they gain a foothold on their mount.

To mount an orchid:
unpot the orchid soak for 10-20 minutes in 70-80*F water with some stress formula if you wish and then cut off all brown and black roots, if this only leaves you with 10 roots (or even 5) that's fine it's worse to leave dead parts on than to cut them off. The plant will eventually grow new ones anyway when it recovers from the activities.

prepare a small pad of long fibered sphagnum moss (do not cut it up just soak it and wad up the long strands) lay it on the mount and wind a few wraps of fishing line over it so it doesn't fall off.

Lay your orchid ontop of the sphagnum moss pad. Lay it so the plant looks like it is growing naturally from the mount looking at the upotted orchid you will see the direction the roots grow from the plant.

Spread the thick roots out and lay a few more strands of damp long fibered spahnum over the roots near the base of the plant. Wind a few more wraps of finshing line on and be sure it's stable (remember that a wobbly plant will not root). Do not wrap too tightly as it will cut off circulation through the roots but make sure the plant doesn't shift around at all.

It will take a few months but the new roots will emerge from the moss like thick silvery white worms and adhere to the mount surface and in 6 months or so you can cut off the fishing line and the plant will hang by it's own accord.

Don't try to mount your orchid if it's in bloom as this may cause the flowers to abort. Wait until it's done (which was nearly a year on one of my White phals!)

Hope that helps!

This should be in the orchid forum shouldn't it?
 
Yep...it should! Off it goes....*poof*
 
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