To Mount or not question answered

last year

I struggle deciding if I should mount my orchids or not. I have a few miniatures which I have mounted, and although they grow well and bloom, they require constant watering. I find myself spraying or misting literally every or every other day just to keep the roots moist, and those roots are surrounded by sphagnum moss as well!

Well, I may have hit upon a solution. I've now created the potty mount! I built a little platform that a pot can sit on. The rear of the platform is an upright board to which I've glued a piece of bark from one of the fallen trees behind my house. See the picture of my Maxillaria tenuifolia as it shows it much better than I can explain it, but now I water the pot normally and spray the rear mount whenever I think about it. The plant grows in the pot as well as binds to the vertical mount. Wha-la! Problem solved. Now where to hang it?

Thoughts? Already done? Ideas? Thanks all

Featured Answer

James _J

last year

I took a closer look at mine this morning and I do see roots in the center of the mound. It looks like they are attaching to older growth, basically mounting to itself.

I dont think you need to worry about repotting. In a few years it will grow over the pot and fill in the space between the pot and mount, which I think will look really cool.

When mine out grew its pot, I pulled it out and didnt see any media left at all, just roots. I dropped the whole thing in a bigger pot with hydroten pellets.

Heres mine

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Comments (10)

James _J
last year
I like the idea, I was thinking about putting the mount in the pot but figured it would rot. Can you leave it outside all year? I have to bring mine in so I need something that work for both indoors and out.

I have a big cork slab that I found at an estate sale. I want to do some kind of pot / mount thing with multiple plants.

Will tenuifolia make aerial roots?

Mine keeps getting taller but I never see any roots.
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Bill M.
Original Author
last year
Supposedly when they're up against something they can grow into, such as a mount, then the roots come out of the sheaths and into the mount. I guess I'll find out.
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James _J
last year
Interesting, mine formed into a mound. Ive beed wondering how tall it would get without any visible roots
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jane__ny
last year
Bill, you have to sit the mount in the water. The roots head for moisture. I stick the entire mount, with the plant into a tray of water until the mount takes up the water. I don't keep the plant in a pot.

I mount the plant and stick the whole thing in water. I leave it until the mount is damp.

I do not like cork. It is very hard to hydrate. I only use wood mounts.

Jane
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dbarron
last year
Please note, I'm not a mount person. Bill's observations on frequent watering do not sit will with house plant culture.

But, i think mixing pots and mounts give you the worst of both worlds. What are you going to do when the pot media breaks down? I suppose you could shatter and remove the pot and media entirely at that point? But really, what have you gained?
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Bill M.
Original Author
last year
Uh people - it's an experiment. You see, there was this old out of shape guy who was bored, so he decided to try an experiment to see if an orchid could be both mounted and in a pot at the same time. Since I didn't tell the orchid what I was doing, but rather let it think it was now growing against a tree, I wanted to see if it would attach. If it did, then at some point I could seperate it into two distinct plants. So far it's doing fantastic. Now shhh, don't tell it the process. I don't know if it reads this forum or not, but if it does, it'll spoil the surprise!

Sheesh!
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dbarron
last year
Hee, well you know they don't read books. Do you think they have a wireless plan ? :)
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James _J
last year
For sure they listen to what you say so be careful.

I have some broken pots that I want to make something similar with.

I also need to make a moss pole for my monstera, thinking about sticking an orchid on there too.
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Bill M.
Original Author
last year
Read the Secret Life of Plants. It's an old book but an eyeopener.
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