could my orchids be mounted?

[Riona]

Hello, I'm a newbie to orchids and I was wondering about mounting. I've got a couple of phals and a few dendrobiums that I got recently as semi-rescues. I've been doing s/h with my other houseplants so I put them in that sort of setup, but because of the lack of good roots the dendros keep falling over. I was wondering how to actually mount them though. The roots on the one got damaged because it was sitting in a pot with only sphagnum with no drainage and pooled with water, and the others were just dried out when I got them. I've read that you should use moss and then tie the entire thing to a piece of wood. Is that right? And should I do something to make the roots grow out more before I tried to mount them(I can get pics if needed) I don't want to kill any of them =/

Thank you!

[LouisW]

Yes you could mount your den, but know that mounts can be a little harder to care for than potted orchids. you often have to water them every day unless you live in a place with very high humidity (like 70-80%). You can secure the den on its mount with wire or string and put a little sphagnum moss around the roots (or where the roots will be).

[rcb]

Riona, I mount most of my dens. Louis is absolutely correct, but to expand, I've found when I have a rootless den, they actually grow new roots faster when I mount them possibly because I secure them very well to the mount, and therefore the new delicate root tips don't get rubbed and broken. Personally, I like to mount the orchid bare to the mount, and then add the spaghnum moss and tie that down. If the plant has no good roots at all, I usually wait until I see the roots starting before I add the moss. I have one I just did about 2 weeks ago, I'll try and get a picture this afternoon and post it for you.

[Riona]

Alright. I do live in a lower humidity area, but I usually mist my plants 2x daily, and try to keep the humidity in my room up.

Out of curiosity, something I've never really seen before is how to pick a mount size for a plant. Can you guys give me any tips for that?

Thank you for the quick replies!

edit: also, since I do have lower humidity in my area, would it be wise to leave a bit of sphagnum on the mount after it gets established so I can make sure it is getting enough water?

[Riona]

I put two of them on a piece of cork tonight(stood it upright on a bookshelf near my window) and am going to take some driftwood out of my angelfish's tank tomorrow to put the other one on(the reason I got it is because it has a ton of wormholes. Should be able to get roots through it) I tied the orchids down and then tied sphagnum moss around them. Should I try to keep the sphagnum moist while they are adjusting or should I let it dry out a bit and then wet it well again?