does anybody knows about laelia mounts?

[domresvanis]

Hi everybody.Next week i am going to get some seedlings of LAELIA ANCEPS VEITCHIANA X GUERRARO, LAELIA ANCEPS VEITCHIANA X DAWSONII, Laelia Lobata x Purpurata var. Werkhauseri and Laelia Gouldiana.I am thinking to mount them on tree ferns.I could be happy if someone could help me with some information about humidity and fertilize ?I just know that the 2 first are cold growing and that i can mount them.
Thanks everybody for the help.

[maria1971]

HI,

I have some Laelias mounted. I don't mount anything on tree fern as I don't like the look. I can tell you that Laelias get huge and heavy, so that may not provide the most support. I mount mine on teak, and water every day.

[FLBob]

I have my Laelia rubense mounted on grape wood. My Laelia purpurata grows well in a basket.
the humidity in SW Florida is typically above 60 and I tend to feed regularly ie weekly with a balanced fertilizer.

[kmarch]

In my opinion Cattleya purpurata (as it is now correctly called) is better suited to pot or basket culture because of how fast it can grow and how big it can get. Of course given the right conditions, a lot of epiphytic orchids (most?) can be grown mounted.

I knew by the avalanche of capital letters, before I even looked at your location, that you were probably from Australia. Printing plant tags entirely in capital letters seems a common practice here. Unfortunately it perpetually confuses people as to the proper expression of plant names. Below are the correct expressions of your crosses and plant names. Check out my article titled Orchid Nomenclature for an explanation of orchid names, what they tell you, and how they should be expressed.

These orchids are all species:

• LAELIA ANCEPS VEITCHIANA should be Laelia anceps 'Veitchiana'
• GUERRARO, should probably be Laelia anceps 'Guerrero' - Guerrero referrs to the region in which this variant of the plant is found. The name "Guerrero" has never been used in an official description and so isn't actually a valid varital name. The next best option is to express it as a cultivar name.
• DAWSONII, should be Laelia anceps var. dawsonii
• Laelia Lobata should be Sophronitis lobata for now - I expect this will eventually be changed ot Cattleya lobata.
• Purpurata var. Werkhauseri should be Sophronitis purpurata 'Werkhauseri' for now - this will eventually (soon) be changed to Cattleya purpurata 'Werkhauseri'. Manyalready refer to it as such.
• Laelia Gouldiana. should be Laelia gouldiana

Be sure to let us know if you have any questions!

[davetheorchidaddict]

I have several Laelia's mounted, use cork, red cedar, tree fern bark and wooden boxes, when I use a wooden box it is without medium and sometimes on the bottom turned upside down. I always remember what an old hybriedzer told my wife, "Lady they don't have pots in the jungle." With that in mind I do not use medium on most of my plants. They do bloom nice and are firmly ankered after a couple years.

[domresvanis]

maria1971,FLBbob,kmatch,davetheorchidaddict ,thanks to all of u for your help.Its very king of you trying to help me with your usefull posts.Now I feel much better and I know that I can do it.In the future i ll post some photos of my mounts.
Thanks everybody
DOM

[karmavore]

My Laelia anceps is insanely happy on a mount, however, I tried Laelia gouldiana on a mount and it was miserable. After I moved it to a pot with loose, coarse medium, it began to make new roots and shoot. Go figure. I watch plants closely and if I see they are languishing, I check the medium. If the medium is deteriorating, then they get new medium. If the plant continues to be in a "holding pattern" I move it to the opposite situation from pot to mount, or from mount to a pot or basket.

Good luck!

[digitalgate]

ditto from me. As your humidity is low in Aus, i would recommend a pot instead of mouting.