Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew  I was being a bit sneaky in not putting that as an answer on the poll. I find this is very commonly cited as a reason to mount. |
And for good reason, because it's probably the most common and most sensible reason people have for mounting.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew However, I'm often not sure exactly what that means or why it's important.  |
It's all about culture and conditions (which is why I chose the response I eventually did). Let me give you an example: I grow a lot of Dendrobium tetragonum. In the wild, they live along the east coast of Australia (as you probably know), and grow on tree branches, Melaluca (spelling?) or Ironwood (please correct me if I have the tree names wrong). There's a fair bit of wind there and their roots get wetted down (not really soaked for a long time, but wetted by a sudden rain) and then the wind dries them out quickly. They get fairly bright dappled light. Their canes and leaves are sticking out in the air, catching the breeze.
Because these plants grow so well in that climate, I can obtain useful cultural ips/techniques by trying to mimic those conditions, so I mount all of my plants so their canes stick out in the air, I Drench them a couple times a week then let them dry out (more in summer when the humidity is so low) and I grow them near a big tree in out back yard so they don't get any burhing direct light.
Trying to mimic the conditions under which they grow in nature has produced really good results for me. All of my flowering size tetragonums flowered for me last year and this year I have about 70 spikes on 12 plants. I'm expecting around 200 flowers on them this year.
My mounting them has very little to do with aesthetic concerns. It's all about mimicing their original environment.
I don't mean to insult your intelligence regarding Australian natives, I'm sure you know well the climate that tetragonums come from Andrew, but I did want to spell it all out for the benefit of those who do not know about a tetragonum's natural habitat.
