My first try

[myorchid]

In my order of birthday orchids, I got some grapewood thinking I would try mounting an orchid. I didn't know which one but when they came, the Miltona Earl Dunn was small and looks like it might be OK to try.

Tell me what you think. It looks OK and seems stable.

[Anton]

Looks great.

A little tip /trick:

I was introduced to using nylon stockings as a tie instead of wires or fishing line. If you cut a piece about 1/2" to 3/4" wide and tie it at the back of the mount, you'll find that the fine mesh of the stockings is almost transparent on the roots and plant, and is soft and gentle.

Because nylon stockings roll when you cut thin widths, that is the reason for cutting the wider band, and you'll find you'll be able to control the material rolling up a bit better and keep it as a band.

I can show you some examples if you like. I used to use fishing line, but by using nylon stockings I need less material, and it holds the plant better.

[myorchid]

Anton,

Yes, I would like to see some examples. Maybe I should redo mine using that technique?

Thanks!

[kid a]

I know this might be a silly question, but what kind of moss is that? And it does look great!

[myorchid]

It is bagged sphag moss that I got from the nursery. I soaked it in worm tea before using.

[articuno75]

It looks like Chilean Spagh, but I really can't tell. Does it say on the bag? There are different kinds of spagh. New Zealand (which has different cuts and grades), Chilean, and the run of the mill stuff that came from your local lake. (Yuk ).

[myorchid]

not really sure, what kind it is. I hope it will be OK for the orchid.
So far my mount is staying put. I like the look of it, hope it grows OK.

[articuno75]

April, yours looks great and will do just fine. I like it.

[solay]

It kinda looks like moss for top dressing of plants to cover the dirt. Does it hold moisture well? Anyhow, it looks good to me. I don't know about the moss. Maybe someone else will know.

[Anton]

April, here's one of my Dockrillias and some Tolumnia mounts showing the nylon stockings holding the plants on.

Then top one on the dockrillia is to show what happens if you don't make a wide enough band from the stockings.

[patticake]

April, I think it looks beautiful! Great job. I can't wait to see it bloom! Nice.....

[PhalPal]

April your mount looks great to me too! As long as it doesn't wiggle too much and feels very secure the roots will adhere and grow onto your log.

Anton - You use only the nylon, no moss under or over the roots?? Or did you remove that once the roots attached?

[myorchid]

I thnk I might remount it tonight. This morning the moss was totally dry and it wasn't even a full 24 hours! It doesn't seem to hold water very well.

I do have some of the sphag that I got from Jerry's plants that I will use tonight. It seems to hold water a bit better.

I may try the stocking trick to see how it holds the plant on.

I will post new pictures tonight.

Thanks for all the support. I really like the look of a mount, makes me want to mount more of them, but where would I put them??

[orchid_girl]

Very nice myorchid!! I like the mount!

Anton did you just use the stockings and nothing else?

[Anton]

Yes, just the stockings, Tolumnia and Dockrillia don't like to be too moist, both mainly get their moisture from the atmosphere, the Doc is usually found near waterfalls and gets light overspray occasionally.

Other plants, such as yours may be different, but if you have a look at these plants in the wild, they just cling to the tree trunks and don't have piles of moss to sit on. There may be a slight build up of debris over time, but not a lot.

Growers tend to forget how these plants grow in their native habitats and don't research it much. I personally try to find out what they look like in the wild, and there are plenty of Websites showing them in situ, then try and reproduce those conditions as closely as I can.

Aesthetically orchids mounted with moss look good, but, is it faithfully reproducing how they would be in the wild ???

I am not saying that it is not right to use sphag, but try some research and see how a particular species does survive in it's natural state, I think a lot of people would be surprised.

This was only pointed out to me recently by a long time breeder of orchids, and he has changed my way of thinking with mounting orchids. Sometimes the moss provides too much moisture and they in fact, only need a spraying twice a day, such as my Tolumnia.

[solay]

Anton, that is interesting. I never thought of it that way. Without the moss would you just have to mist more? I just plopped on more moss yesterday on the mounted Neo. maybe I better take some off. Wouldn't want to suffocate it. Thanks.

[PhalPal]

Thanks for the insight anton. I do research my orchids before buying a different type and like to know where it would grow naturally and how. First and foremost, it's interesting! There are some I just can't accommodate easily with our dryness. Many times it's not possible to duplicate an exact natural state inside a home, so I try my best to make it liveable for all of us. (the plants, me, cats, dogs and oh yeah, my hubby )

I have a Tolumnia mounted on cork with a little spraghum under and over the roots, just enough for a little cushion against the cork and fishing line. Under lights it does dry completely and I need to drench with a pressure sprayer each morning. It is blooming it's heart out right now, so far so good.

It always amazes me how adaptable orchids are!

[Anton]

ALL my orchids in the GH are misted in the morning around 7am before I go to work and in the afternoon when I get home, in fact, I do it before I even get out of the work clothes so that they have a chance to evaporate the excess water of before they go bye byes.

If you look at the Tolumnias they are extremely healthy, as is the Doc.

We are mostly in single digit humidity here in South Australia, which is why I mist the orchids twice in the GH and that helps boost humidity up to around 50% to 60% at night, which is what most epiphytes need in the wild as a minimum to survive.

They depend on humidity or fine mists blown across the mountains at night for their moisture needs and absorb them through the roots, hence the size and quantity of roots that plants like the Vanda Alliance grow.

I have a 2 litre hand pumped garden sprayer that I fill with rain water and that does all 300 plants in the GH. I have a 12 volt car fan going 24/7 for the air movement and to simulate the breeze that the plants would likely experience in the wild.

I spray a fine mist just in front of the fan aimed it the same direction, and the plants get misted by the breeze created by the fan similar to what they would get in the wild.

Haven't lost one yet and they seem healthy and happy.

Maybe it is worth an experiment on one plant that you could afford to use as a guinea pig and see how it goes.

The Tolumnias and Docs do get a good spraying morning and night due to being mounted on cork and the drying effect of the fan and relative temps in the GH. But the potted plants just get the spray effect I spoke about above.

[PhalPal]

Many of us are limited in what we can provide our orchids if we don't have, don't want, have space for, or can't afford a greenhouse. I do like cork bark because I tend to mount orchids that like to stay on the dry side, i.e. Catts and Tolumnia. For species Phals I add a little bit more moss to the bark and they are happy.

[articuno75]

Anton I like your style with the stockings and implemented it this morning with my mount. I worried about the fishing line that I used and the new growth, fearing that the line would cut it and the bigger pseudobulb. The stocking works great! Awesome technique I'll post pics on my hybrid thread later to show all the results.

[myorchid]

I also liked your method Anton so I remounted my Miltonia. Here are some pictures of it.

The stocking worked great, very secure and won't cut into the roots or pseudobulb.

[Anton]

Ladies, that is the idea, "it won't cut into the roots", plus it is elastic and gives as the plant and roots grow.

That is what I like about this technique, it is not harmful to our little Precious s.

April, also notice that it is almost invisible as well, took me a few moments to pick up on where you had used it.

Just to prove a point about not using moss when mounting, the first 3 images are Tolu Harry Tolen showing extreme close ups of the roots, and the 4th image is Tolu Barbie. As can be seen, they are adhering the the cork quite well.

[articuno75]

Here's my pic of my handy work. I really like this a lot better than fishing line. I cut my strips thinner it's still forgiving, yet has a nice hold.

[fred]

I think I will make this thread ( Sticky )
as Anton has used less moss with his technique to hold the plant to the mount.
the thing that concerns me slightly with the use of more moss and having to keep the moss damp one would think the use of the stocking and with keeping the moss damp that the stocking will turn black and rot off.

Is there a time frame with keeping the moss damp before the stocking does start to rot before the plant gets a strong enough hold on the mount ?

very interesting point I think.

[Anton]

Not LESS moss Fred, NO moss.

Stockings don't rot off Fred, OBVIOUSLY, you haven't you worn any before?
Nylon doesn't deteriorate like cotton, it is synthetic.

Also ladies, we are recycling them, so it is helping the environment, they are not going to the waste depots, waste not, want not.

Jenny, see how almost invisible it is against the moss, and as you said it will stretch and wont cut into the plant or roots.

[myorchid]

Jenny
Yours looks great! You used more moss than me, but I think your plant is quite a bit bigger than mine.


Good job!

[jerrymeola]

I do not look at the mounting forum very often since I have my own methods and do not want to 'tell' someone else how to do theirs. I have done several thousand mounts (800 since I started counting in January).

Since the Milt Earl Dunn came from me, I can give a lot of experience. I use only fishing line. It never cuts the roots since the moss protects the roots. I pull the fishing line very tight. The plant grows very fast sometimes tripling in size in one Summer.

Earl Dunn, as I said when I proposed this plant for the hybrid project, is unique from other Miltonia. I grow it next to my Cattleya and it does well even if it is allowed to dry out. I also flowers in high heat.

Oncidium types take too long to attach to wood. It will be 3-4 years before there is any chance of it growing enough roots to stay on wood by itself. My mounted Earl Dunns from last year do not show any new roots. A potted one (2 inch pot to 4 inches) from two years ago had 4 new pseudobulbs the first year and no new roots. The roots were still a 2 inch square. The second year the plant The plant had started to grow new roots and needed a re-potting to a 6 inch pot. This is an unusual growing plant.

I feel Oncidium alliance plants will fall off the wood if you use nylon. Personally I hate the look of nylons. I had one fall off yesterday because I forgot the wire loop. Actually the first photo from April will probably fall off as the plant gets larger. Oncidium are too heavy to stay on of their own. The weight (mine get to 6 pounds) will make them lean then fall right out of whatever you used to tie it on. I use plastic coated green wire to make a loop around the top of a thick pseudobulb. The wire allows me to twist it loosely around the plant so that it is only a support when needed. Plastic coated wire does not cut the plant and does not rust easily. Green is easily hidden and is not noticed in any of my photos in the gallery but it is always on Oncidium.

I do not use the wire with Cattleya as they will attach by their roots in only 6 months.

April and Jenny I will send you some wire tonight.

[jerrymeola]

It is not good to use fishing line if you want to mount totally bare root.

Another way to mount bare root plants like Anton without showing any nylon, is to use a tire repair hole punch. (the T handle one to make a leak larger to take a plug) An Ice pick can also work.

Punch two holes in the cork (it works well with Osmond fiber board also) just far enough apart so that the stem you are attaching fits right between the holes. Run a plastic coated wire over the stem and through the holes then twist them tight on the back of the mount. Nothing shows and they never fall off.

[myorchid]

Thanks, Jerry. Can you also send a picture of how to attach the green wire and where you attach it?

My Milt is doing pretty good. We have had a couple of really hot days, 80's, (that's hot in Washington) and the Milt has dried out daily. I am watering every day and I looked today and it looks like the new growth is getting taller and I see a new leaf starting!

[myorchid]

Just wanted to show how much bigger my Miltonia Earl Dunn has gotten since I got it.

It is still mounted and seems to be growing nicely. I did notice today that it was a bit wobbly on the mount, so I tyed a piece of nylon stocking around the biggest pseudobulb and they seems to have stablized it.

I can't believe how quickly it has grown! I have had it only 1 month (got it 5/8/08)

[solay]

Look at the size of that bulb! Looks like it liked the new home. How much bigger will it get? Then what will you do? Attach it to another mount? Love that it's growing so fast.

[myorchid]

I will keep it on the mount until it gets too big then move it. I am very pleased that it is growing so well!

[Nancy]

I mounted one of my Cattleyas on grapewood and the stocking pieces covered all the roots, even the green ones. Will new roots grow over the stocking pieces and cling to them until they get to the grapewood? The roots are very short on this plant due to having to trim rotten parts off. I like the look, I just want to make sure that the roots can grow like they should over the nylon.

[myorchid]

Nancy
I think the roots will grow over the nylon. Anton is the real expert so you could PM him to ask.

[Nancy]

Anton, I love the effect of the nylon on the mount. I mounted Hawkinsara Sogo Doll 'Little Angel' and its root growth has been very prolific. The roots (six total) are about to venture out onto the nylon. What happens to the roots that grow on the nylon? Won't I eventually have to cut the nylon up to remove it? I have very little spag under the plant so the roots should reach the grapewood quickly. I'm just not quite sure what I should do with it now. Please elaborate on what occurs with your own plants. They look wonderful, by the way.

[myorchid]

My mounted Milt has been doing great, it has lots of new growth. When I was watering today I noticed that it has lots of new root growth as well!

The roots are growing through the nylon stocking and all around it. I must be doing something right!!!

Here is a picture of it and the new roots

[solay]

Looks good. I find mounting and baskets do better for me in general. Good growing!

[articuno75]

It looks great!

I found that my Enc. (too long to type) project has also rooted as well and established to the mount! Yay! Stocking is still holding up and it looks good

[Yan]

Hi there,
Where did you find the wood to hold the orchids? They are so pretty! I love them. I wish my orchid would grow like that.
Many thanks!

Originally Posted by Anton

Ladies, that is the idea, "it won't cut into the roots", plus it is elastic and gives as the plant and roots grow.

That is what I like about this technique, it is not harmful to our little Precious s.

April, also notice that it is almost invisible as well, took me a few moments to pick up on where you had used it.

Just to prove a point about not using moss when mounting, the first 3 images are Tolu Harry Tolen showing extreme close ups of the roots, and the 4th image is Tolu Barbie. As can be seen, they are adhering the the cork quite well.

[myorchid]

I used grapewood, which I got from one of our members, Jerry Meola. You can send him a PM about the grapewood.
For the mounting of my Catts, I used a nice piece of bark from the wood pile!

[davetheorchidaddict]

I'm new to this forum but have been growing orchids for some time now. I came to conclusion that mounting was the nearest I could come to natural growth habits of orchids and have mounted several hundred, my entire collection.

I learned the hard way that softer woods, like grapevine, will rot out in a few years due to the water. I use cedar, cork and cypress for most of my mountings; although, I have some in and on the bottom of wood baskets these to be to the liking of the orchids because they do well and produce beautiful wood.

I do not use spag because holds water and will rot roots instead I use cocoanut husk which holds the fertilizer and lets water drain through, I water every 2 days in summer and 3 in winter.

To hold them in place until they grab ahold of the mount I use electrical ties cutting them when the plant is fixed. I have also used fine telephone wire at times.

It is a good way to grow orchids and brings positive comments when shown.

[girishgkulkarni]

hi Anton,

I looked out for drift wood and other types of mountable wood in stores

Can u let us know which is the best type of wood for mounting phals and plz let me know where [which store] we would get it?

Thanks in advance

[virgil]

In south La. due to the storms there is a lot of fences damaged, it is usually cedar which lasts a long time when I finish cutting the boards I have one about 5'' x 12'' I take a drill and drill several holes in the board. I tie spagnum to the board and tie the plant and more spagnum on top . I use fishing line or telephone cable.

[magicman]

I like the idea of stockings I have some waiting to be mounted this weekend and I'll be trying it with stockings, it looks alot easier than fishing line, I'm just trying to figure out what to tell my wife when I take them off her legs and head to the back yard with them.

[myorchid]

They have continued to work out well for me. It doesn't cut the roots or seem to bother the plant at all.

[Anton]

A woman from our club came in at the last meeting with a 3 foot length of dead tree fern.

I asked her what she brought it for, and she said to see if anyone wants it. Needless to say, she didn't make it past the front door, and it was in my car in a flash.

I sawed it length ways into 4 pieces, then cut it into 8" lengths X 3/4" thick X 5" wide.

Considering they are around $20 here per piece, someone is making a killing.

[craigkat]

I'm new to the site and orchids. I have only six plants and all NOID's unfortunately but just starting collecting. I live in Manitoba, Canada and its fairly chilly in the house most days(winter). I'm thinking mounting likely wouldn't be a good idea for me? Any ideas, or should I leave them in pots. They are all in clear plastic pots then in orchid pots with lots of holes. I also have them on pebble trays to keep the moisture level up. My first phal. was blooming when I bought it and had 3 spikes(last fall), this fall one of the spikes split into 2 more and they both had numerous blooms.

Kathy

[-k-]

Very well done! and such a nice location for them! Mounting is very inviting, I just don't think I could keep up with the constant requirements of maintainance! Can't wait to see them when in bloom!

[maria1971]

I use acrylic yarn to tie the chids. It is easy on the hands, easy on the roots and plants, and ties killer knots. I love it. All your orchids look fantastic.

[Irene]

Ok I really have to get a camera

Today I did my first mounting. I looked around my house for something to secure the plant to the wood. Decided against dental floss, sandwich tie wire, nylons, and some plastic netting that something came in but don't remember what.

I settled on the elastic tie that comes on file folders. You know, the dark brown one used to close the folder. This worked very well! I put the plant and moss on the mount and then wrapped this elastic tie around the whole package just one time and tied it off. It disappears into the moss and holds the plant very securely. And seems a little less likely to cut into the plant.

Anyway, just wanted to share. Don't know how well it will work in the long run, as it was only done 10 minutes ago

[mytwogirls]

This thread has been amazing to me! I am still starting out with orchids and have a LOT to learn, but somehow, someday I really WANT to mount an orchid. This thread has inspired me so much!

[Musika]

I would love to someday be able to mount mine. That looks awesome!! But sadly I have only had orchids for about a year and I am still learning

[pikkumyy]

just to add to anton and growing without sphag, i think we have been talking and stealing (no other term is possible, apart from extreme generosity) orchids from the same person (willowbanks). here is a photo of a Tolumnia Irene Gleason 'Snow Fire' who seems pretty happy just hanging on.

but as anton said, it can vary depending on the genus

[petebonsai]

Good morning,

Thanks for all information. I have been grown orchids for last two years.

Last two month I mount about 40 orchids. I will post some picture tonight.

I have learn a lot from this web site.

Pete pham

[petebonsai]

I have a greenhouse 12 X 16 we build out of glass siding door. At member of

a orchids club I a have learn a lot from all member been grown for 30 years.

Have a great day.

pete pham

[pikkumyy]

very cool pete, please dont hold back on the photo's, we love them