No medium (aerial) Orchids?

[Josh]

Hello,

Would a Phal or a Dendrobium be able to survive without medium and just keeping the roots "aerial", like we see in some kinds of Vandas? Or do they need to be stuffed in the orchid medium to thrive?

Thanks for the help and sorry for the ignorance.

Josh

[janet_a]

if you want to mist them every day, sure. mounted orchids often have no medium, but some of those folks are keeping their plants in warm greenhouses with 85% or better humidity.

phals would do better this way than dens, i think.

[Josh]

Interesting... so it may work! I don't have a proper greenhouse, though... would it work inside a warm living room by an East window if it was misted daily?

[Dendian]

Oh, we stuff them in the orchid pots for OUR selfish reasons - if you can reproduce their natural habitat and have the daily humidity they need then they would really prefer to be growing on trees.....

[kmarch]

In nature the roots of these orchids are usually exposed. They're wrapped around tree branches and through moss and other stuff that also grows on the tree branches. Tropical den and phal roots, to the best of my knowledge, typically do not hang down in the open air like vanda roots do. Several people here on the forum do grow dens and phals mounted. Have you considered that? I do think growing them completely bare root might be possible but I'd think the conditions (temperature, humidity, watering, etc) would have to be spot on all the time.

[Josh]

I'll consider the mounting options, but I'll have to read more about it as I have no idea how to successfully do it.

[terra_australis]

Yeah, the main problem is keeping enough moisture on the roots if they are plants that prefer to stay a little damp. I have a piece of Plectorhiza tridentata (an Aussie native "twig epiphyte" commonly known as tangleroot) simply suspended by a piece of string - no mount, no mix. It is happy like that but that is its nature anyway since in the wild they usually hang in the air attached to a branch by only the tip of one or two roots.

In theory you should be able to keep most epiphytes like that but it comes down to practicality.