Psychopsis - to mount or not to mount?

[SarinahL]

Hi all,

I've been browsing through some culture sheets for my psychopsis mariposa.

I read here and there that it prefers being mounted, over being potted.
Mine is now potted in a 2.5" pot, with what seems to be medium-fine bark mix (this is how I purchased it), with some sphagnum on top.
I water it once a week by soaking and draining thoroughly, before putting it back into its decorative container. It looks good and healthy, the leaves look great and it's blooming right now.

Has anyone mounted his psychopsis, and is the mounting-info correct?

[Daethen]

I have mine potted and keep it fairly moist most of the time.

[janet_a]

thanks for raising this--i thought i heard somewhere that psychopsis don't like having their roots disturbed; maybe this is why mounting is a good idea...? (i grow mine in a pot.)

[orchidea]

Psychopsis roots need to be moist most of the time, I think.
I wouldn't mount it unless I was situated in the climat with 90% humidity..
I have few of them, and just to make sure they are going to be OK with re-potting, I re-potted 2 of them. All of them are fine and blooming, re-potted ones as well as the ones I didn't touch. They all sitting in the shallow water at the bottom.......which mounts can't provide.

[SarinahL]

Well actually, we have an average of 85-96% humidity here. But it's %, relative to temperature. It's wet and cold and I'm not an active user of the heater, right now the living room has 89% humidity. It's probably around 18-20 C here now.
Outside it's about 16 C.
Gabblegabble, what I mean is, the same humidity percentage means something different here than it does in, say, Thailand.

That said, I could spray it mornings and evenings if need be. But would the roots not be too brittle?

[jerrymeola]

I would stay away from mounts.

They like to be moist so unless you are growing them with Vanda and daily watering you will have problems. I have not tried it with Psychopsis but with Maxillaria tenuifloria, which also likes to be moist. Even with daily watering it grew very slow in comparison to potted plants. Moist plants should be in pots with medium that holds water.

[cMan5]

I think it's up to where you want to put it and how often you can water it.. And depending on some species they look pretty sweet mounted! I've heard of some people mounting Orchids and hanging them from a tree during nice weather! Sounds pretty cool to me!