Mount in old drift wood

[-k-]

Found this drift wood this past spring on the shores of lake ontario and decided to put it to use! Gave it a nice soak, filled with moss and light bark mix and weaved the roots down the groove. There are two horizontal holes located on the back and side which helps provide air circulation as well room for roots to expand to. Used some light gauge netting I used for my outdoor garden to hold in place and is hanging in front of our South window! (hence the whiteout in the photo)
It's my first attempt at mounting an orchid in any way shape or form.

[Irene]

That netting is a great idea. Looks beautiful. Very nicely done.

[riyokotsu]

You are much more brave than I! I know that some orchids naturally grow on the sides of trees, but the idea still freaks me out a little bit.

Very nice! Maybe someday I'll muster up the courage to have a go at it. Hopefully it'll look as nice as yours.

[lmartiny]

Looks good. Nicely done. Mounts will need more attention to watering.

[abiom]

That is very neat. I mount my orchids too and they love it.

[katrina]

Looks great! Definitely beats the heck out of my first go at mounting. Good job!

[fred]

great work with your first ever mount

[-k-]

Thkx! Was allot of fun putting it together, turned out better than I originally had thought it would. So far so good, the plant really seems to enjoy hanging there soaking up the light. I have def notice the increased demmand for watering though, but I dnt mind, it's not like I dnt check them multiple time a day!

[lmartiny]

One of my first mounts is on a piece of driftwood that we have had for years. It probably had bromeliads on it once. Hubby had it when I met him. So it is at least 26 years old. Last year when I got orchid geeky I used it for three discounted Phals. The roots have now grown nicely onto the wood (middle one not so much) and two are spiking.

[Ochin@]

I really like the way it came out, it will look awesome once the roots grow around the wood and you'll be able to remove the netting. Great Job!!

[-k-]

Driftwood ... Is there anything it can't do!! I used some of the same driftwood to create my garden signs this past growing season. Sanded them just a little, burned in the lettering for all the veggie boxes, glossed and mounted to old pepper roots from the prior year! Their all bundled away for the winter now can't wait to get back out there, love gardening, so relaxing, not to mention all the wonderful veggies, herbs, pumpkins

[Ladyofthelakes]

Hi K,

I live on Lake Huron and collected 3 boxes of driftwood maybe 10 years ago. I have been thinking of mounting orchids on some pieces.

My concern is what about any of the junk from the bottom of the lake giving orchids some bug or fungi. Any thoughts you can share?

Vivienne

[kmarch]

I think you've done a good job on your mount. You'll probably have to adjust your watering habits and watering frequency and method are usually different for mounted orchids from potted ones. Keep us posted!

[katrina]

Hey Vivienne! I used a piece of driftwood from an old fish tank set up and was concerned about some of the same things.

I boiled it for a bit to kill off anything. After that I did 3, 48hrs soaks in distilled water to leach out any of the fish tank chems. If the piece is too large for boiling, I believe you could bake it in the oven for awhile to get the same kill effect. ?? Hopefully someone else can answer the oven part.

I don't know if all of that was necessary but I did it anyway. The Brassavola has been on the mount for over a year and it's doing fabulous.

[Irene]

I have a large piece of driftwood that I fished out of the marsh. I soaked it in a tub of water and bleach for a day or so and then soaked in clean water another day or so.

[RMW]

Looks very nice.

[OrchidJeff]

Though this project is far from the making, I will wait until I know more about this plant, anyways!! my wife wants me to mount orchids in large driftwood, I was thinking of boring out 4-5 inch holes and putting the pot and all in, but if I wanted to put the plants right in the wood, does this make probleams, like drainage, breathing, airflow, woods getting to to wet and not drying? ETC.

[-k-]

Originally Posted by OrchidJeff

Though this project is far from the making, I will wait until I know more about this plant, anyways!! my wife wants me to mount orchids in large driftwood, I was thinking of boring out 4-5 inch holes and putting the pot and all in, but if I wanted to put the plants right in the wood, does this make probleams, like drainage, breathing, airflow, woods getting to to wet and not drying? ETC.

Ohhh... Projects! Love them projects!!!

That sounds to be one massive piece of drift wood
Not too sure about mounting them in they're pots, I suppose yes it could work though it could inhibit air circulation since the bottom of the pot will be burrowed in the wood.
When you say put the plants right in the wood, do you mean with or without the pots?

The roots of my plant rest directly on the wood and is covered in light moss, this way the roots of plant adhere directly to the wood. The watering demand is much greater this way and is done daily.

Would love to see a pic of this drift wood of yours!!!

[OrchidJeff]

[QUOTE=-K-;197166]Ohhh... Projects! Love them projects!!!

That sounds to be one massive piece of drift wood
Not too sure about mounting them in they're pots, I suppose yes it could work though it could inhibit air circulation since the bottom of the pot will be burrowed in the wood.
When you say put the plants right in the wood, do you mean with or without the pots?

The roots of my plant rest directly on the wood and is covered in light moss, this way the roots of plant adhere directly to the wood. The watering demand is much greater this way and is done daily.

Would love to see a pic of this drift wood of yours!!![/QUOTEN

No drift wood yet, but you can get any size drift wood you like on the North and South shores of Lake Superior and very beautiful wood, I think it would be nicer to mount it in the wood without the pots, me and my wife are considering leaving California and moving back to Minnesota.. lots of drift wood

[orchids4me]

Hello,
I have a huge piece of driftwood I picked up at Lake Amador in Ione Ca. Off of the dam where I go fishing. This piece is aprox. 3 feet long by a bit over 2' wide. It had a lot of water critters in it when I retrived off of the rocky dam. This was about 5 years ago had it sitting out in the sun for about a month I still need to clean it up and get old petrified critter thingys out of it... Other than power blasting it with hose and nozzle any suggestions on how to further clean it to make safe for mounting ? To sterilize something this large? Or should I just not use it its really a beautiful piece.

[-k-]

Good morning orchids4me; sounds like you have the makings of a very nice mount!
I scrubbed mine as much as a could with plain old tap water and soap then used 3 parts water and 1 part bleach and soaked it for an hour. After the soak I scrubbed some more with soap and water then rinsed and soaked again in plain tap water. You want to make sure you get all the possible critters but also make sure no more bleach residue remains so be sure to soak and scrub well. After allow to air dry in the sun...
Good luck!

Lookin forward to viewing your final product

[orchids4me]

-K- ,
Thank you for your help with this. Its going to be a project just to prep it for mounting lol but would be worth it. Its in the garage for years now, originally I was going to prop it up with some wood burrows I had bought in 2007 and set it up to display some crystals, a piece of meteor rock and some fossils but it will make a great orchid mount instead.
Thank you again,
Emmaye

[-k-]

Glad to be of assistance, I have to say your original idea sounds really cool too, possibly you can incorporate the two ideas to some degree!

[orchids4me]

I took some pics of it in both sun and shade, so you can see it detail. Let me know what you think. Has potential as a good candidate for a few spaced mounts ? ( if that's safe ) and or incorporating some how without damaging the crystals and fossils etc.
Thanks,
Emmaye

[-k-]

Wow, that sure is a nice piece of driftwood you have there I like it... If the piece is solid I'd say you have an open canvas to paint away so to speak. Personally I would have a ball making an arrangement on that if I had the space to do so!
Your going to want to def clean that one real well, all the nooks and crannys.

As for adding other asthetics, depends on what you have of course, I'm sure you wouldn't want to damage anything of value. Experiment with an like item of little or no value at first; maybe a stone you find in the driveway.
That way you can try a few different techniques, browse the local hardware store for different types of brackets and braces.
You could try drilling holes into it and inserting wooden nails to act as braces, this would also require small amounts of wood glue to help keep the wooden nails secured.
Just a thought as I have used this technique in the past for other projects with success.
But this also raises the question how secure the entire mount will be, as this will impact all items mounted on it!

[orchids4me]

Thank you -K-,
Its very light in weight since it dried out, when it was water logged it was very heavy. So some areas of it are solid some areas are airy . But its not going to crumble so in that sense its mostly solid I guess .
I did finally get more cid pics up on my attempting to post pics thread if you want to check those out too. I had attached them in the one post but forgot to hit up load lol but they are there now.

Thanks again,
Emmaye

[-k-]

Sweet! Since it's dried out well and mostly solid (airy is ok) then you have one great project on your hands, have fun! Going to check it out now! Tkx!

[davids]

Hello everybody,
K, you have a good idea just cause of thinking, but see will it fine?

[R-Kid Kelly]

nice little mount phals like being back on wood..when my phals I get from the grocery stores start to fail I put them back in the trees in my yard lol .

And I'm a WATERER too, mounts are perfect for someone who likes to attend to his plants even if they don't need or want attending too
Good Stuff!!!