Fun with coconuts

[slippery_biscuit]

Here is a Den, an Epi. nocturnum, and a Tolumnia. The Den is recent.. we'll see what happens, the nocturnum well established with the new vertical growth, and the Tolumnia has sprouted a couple of growths as well.

Retrieved the husks near a beach on Barbados. That aquisition was more fun than a purchase at the local market.


j

[Sea_Sun88]

Cooooooool. I like the idea. Its very creative.

Chelsea

[Tobi]

That is awsome!! What an idea, they look great.

[elitebettas]

Gorgeous, I saw some bromeliads potted in coconuts yesterday neat idea

[sandra]

OK, what gives SB? Chasing coconuts while we labor over all the "how to's" and "what if's".....frolicking in the sand, drinking pina coladas and cattini's while we search and search the forum for answers!

As Tobi said, AWESOME, totally awesome! If that doesn't give the feeling of a little slice of paradise, I don't know what does....well, I do but we'll stick to coconuts for this thread and how beautiful these look.

I'd rather get my coconuts from Barbados also but the farthest I'll get to go anytime soon for one will be a the local market. I'm going to have to do as you've done here. They are spectacular, really and truly WOW!

And remember, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!

[PhalPal]

What a great souvenior from a wonderful vacation!

[pikevi]

What a novel idea!

They look great. If you hang them up in the drawing room you will have every one talking about it

[OrchidArmyWife]

That looks really neat. Love it.

[sandra]

SB, maybe I'll have better luck getting an answer here in your thread than I had when I posted my question in my thread about my first mounting. What differences in care do you provide to newly mounted orchids, in particular, dendrobiums? How often should I be misting is my biggest concern? I've read that it should be sparingly at first but I would think that after being in sphag (they were tiny when I first got them), they'd need misting often?????? Any advice I should note on this transition?

[slippery_biscuit]

Thanks for the comments... they should look cute when they bloom. Fall is just around the corner and I'm considering doing something with a nice looking gourd. Yep. I just have to figure out how to slow down the decay process. Got a couple of ideas swirling about.

Sandra, I read your post and left a short response. A bit more here...

Seems to me that ones' specific growing environment would determine quite a bit. Humidity being the most difficult to contend with (or maybe not!). I've only mounted a couple of dendrobiums, and they are fairly recent. Haven't been mounted long enough for me to observe significant growth. At the same time I've some young dendrobiums in orchid pots and while there is new growth (roots and foliage) they do not seem to be as "robust" as the catts are doing. This is a roundabout way of saying I may not be providing an optimum evironment for them. So.... I wanted to qualify (or disqualify ) my opinion. My approach to the mounted plants in general is that they have the same requirements as their siblings in pots. Their get wet, then dry out cycle is much more compressed than if they were potted. A good misting bumps up the humidity which is good if it tends to be low (like here in the NW). It also waters the roots of a mounted plant. Particularly those that have grown out past there little clump of moss they needed to get going. Looking at the size of those you mounted, I am treating them as I do the big boys and girls. If they are healthy and have decent roots (which they probably did or you wouldn't have used them) I treat them according to how fast they are drying out. It's just that the moisture application rate is different. They go thru the wet/dry cycle daily (or maybe every few hours) when a potted plant needs water, well it depends on a lot also but usually every few days. You've a lot more humidity than I so I don't think you will be needing to mist quite as much as you may have been led to believe.

Dang, this is getting on.... I'll let you read this and if it hasn't put you to sleep you can let me know if it helped at all. Hope it helps a bit.

cheers, Jeff

[kmarch]

Very cute mounts! These would be great fun to put in show displays when they bloom.

I've heard that collected coconut husks can contain high levels of salts from the ocean water. Is that so? If so how does one go about getting rid of the salt? I've heard this is also true for coir chips. The ones I buy say things like "washed" on them but quite honestly I don't really know what that process entails.

[sandra]

Jeff, allow me to clarify that I didn't mean to imply that I was expecting necessarily for you to answer my query....although I'm very glad you did. I thought perhaps more info would follow here than where I posted my thread and YES, you've helped me a great deal here. Thanks much.

ooooh, gourds....that ought to be interesting. Can't wait to see the pics on those.

[slippery_biscuit]

Hadn't heard but assumed there would be lots of salt and maybe critters in the husks when I picked them up. My "wash" consisted of a couple of 5 gal buckets and multiple soakings/rinses over a two week period. There couldn't have been much salt left after that, and surprisingly I didn't see any bugs emerge.

I talked to some folks from Fiji and they said they used to take to husk halves and put tree fern inside with the orchid and tie up the two halves, like a clam shell. That, or a version of, might make an interesting display.

[orchid_girl]

Those are so neat!!! They are absolutely gorgeous!

[orchidfiji]

Slippery Biscuit: Yeah that is a very beautiful mount.

Usually here in Fiji what we would normally do is, the tree fern is not shredded, but instead it stands about a metre or one half meters from the ground and we use the coconut husk to hold the orchid onto the tree fern. For those that I have seen using the coconut husk, they put a little bit of soil in the husk(note that this is a full husk) and put in the orchid.

I have one question and that is when you talk about salt in the husk, do you mean salt from the sea. Reason is that not all coconut trees grow by the sea. I have coconuts outside my home, and I am like one and half km. from the sea.

[slippery_biscuit]

Orchidfiji... yes, I was addressing sea salt. Some of my samples were retrieved from the beach, and others, within sight of it. Thanks for the info on the treefern mounting. When I come up with some creation I'll be sure to post a pic.
Jeff

[orchidfiji]

Slippery Biscuit Thank you very much for the info. I shall start using my coconut husks for orchid mounting.

[danandita]

hi,

i live in bali, indonesia. here i attach picture of what local people here doing with coconut husk.
hope you all like it

cheers

[pikevi]

Hello danandita, welcome to the forum.

That looks great. One of my friend's dad told me about such mounts ( entire coconut husk), while he was helping me to de-husk(?) a coconut a while back. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Thanks.

[slippery_biscuit]

That's mount is right along the lines of what I was imagining. Very nice.