mounting your orchid

It's very attractive, Tindo! What's the plant?

Mounting would be more of an option for me, if I either had a greenhouse, or lived in a warm, humid place. But I don't and I live in New England, so can only stare at the foliage of my few mounted plants and wonder if they'll ever bloom...

Julie

PS - Paph lowii is an epiphytic plant (rare for Paphs.) That should be a good mount, and would look tres cool! It would need a large mount though - the leaves and growths are good-sized for a Paph.

Oops, it a Masdevallia rolfiana. Sorry about that. I hope it blooms!

What should/could I do about old sphagnum moss (5+ years) on one of my mounted plants? Is there any way to re-pot a mounted orchid?

A

A lot actually depends upon the condition of the mount itself. Hardwoods, and good cork, will last a LONG time, and the only reason I've had to remount those is if the plant itself needs a larger mount. In that case, I've just mounted the old mount on a new, larger one! In some cases the old mount material has started to fall apart, and I've helped it along gently. Soaking the mount first is a good idea, since it encourages the roots to tolerate the handling.

Treefern totems, etc, are pretty much short term mounts, though they work well. Those can be very willing to break down (with some encouragement) when/if you want to remount.

I don't know about plants that have been subjected to the glue/silicone treatment - or how the underlying mounts would respond to a remount. Someone who has used those attachment methods would have to respond.

As far as the old sphagnum is concerned, it sort of depends upon the underlying mount, the plant mounted, and only lastly on the moss. If the mount is solid, and the plant has used the nooks and crannies of the mount to affix itself, the need for moss focusses on mosture requirements rather than protection. In that case, I'd generally soak the mount, then ease the old moss out a bit at a time (if it doesn't want to just fall apart, leave it alone!). Work fresh dampened moss back where the old stuff was.

If the plant is loose on the underlying mount, I'd take advantage of the moss-removal to totally remount the plant - a loose mount can really damage the roots!

That makes sense. I will try to remove the old moss. At this point the plant is firmly attached to stick, so it should be OK to do it. Thanks for the advice.

A

Bad news, my mount seems to have become a flop. A few of the leaf bases rotted. Its lost 8 leaves not counting the one that died right before the mounting event. Is it possible that the fumes from the silicone damaged the roots?

Ania, that was a good question. Thanks for asking it. Carol, thanks for answering.

Incidently, I've found an alternative (though a more visible one) to the monofilament for mounting. Ok, so I'm a recycler.... but here at the office, they're always running new comm lines. Those folks will run lines, trim the excess, and leave 3-4 foot remnants for the clean-up crew! Those remnants strip down and make GREAT mount supplies! They're a bit more kind to the roots, so you don't need to use as much moss to protect them. Really helps when you're mounting vandaceous plants that really don't want much on their roots! Plus.... you don't have to be a master fly-tier to get a good knot! A couple of solid twists and you're in business!

Tindo,
Or the other possiblity is that when mounted, there is not enough moisture to sustain the plant and the roots dry out. Most of masdies I know need to be grown pretty wet. They need wet and cool! A few masdies I have are grown in sphagnum moss in clay pots. And we try to keep them wet and cool (cool is harder to give) all the time.
Cheers. Hoa.

Hoa!!! You hit the mark! Even though I have an automatic sprinkler in the vivarium with the Masd. because I had used silicone, I kept left it high and dry (cool though) over the weekend. Had I kept it wet, the silicone would never had cured. Had I put it in the vivarium right after mounting, the misitng system would have made the silicone wet again, and the fumes would have killed my frogs. So I left it out in the open from Friday night to Monday morn. I feel sooo guilty now!!!!!!!

Thanks. Do you think it will recover? The misting system keeps the sphagnum moss around the roots pretty wet most of the day.

This is the longest thread ever.