Mounted Dancing Lady Problem

[TirSigel]

Ok, I have a quick question... I mounted my orchids (various kinds) on a Wild Grape wood branch. All the orchids seem to love it except for the Dancing Lady Oncidium. It's growing well except for when the new roots touch the wood the root tip turns brown and the root drys up. The other orchids are doing well. Any ideas??

[Cjcorner]

Maybe you should try putting it in a pot....or perhaps use another type of wood for your mount?? I have a Sweet Sugar oncid on driftwood. It has been there for three years or so now and it grows slowly, while I see the ones in pots growing like weeds. I've been tempted to cut the wood and sit it in a pot lately.

[panam]

Kevin, you might also put a little sphagnum moss around the roots to keep them from drying out.

[line]

I grafted my Dancing Lady to a tree, but its roots seems to dry out. I had no problem grafting Cattleya and Dendrobium to the same tree. The previous owner uses a palm tree for it, which I don't have. I am wondering if I should pot it.

[TirSigel]

I'm by no means an expert, but It could be a few things...

Are the roots drying out, or are they dying back? Drying out may suggest that either you're not watering enough or the humidity is too low. What kind of mount is it? You said palm was used prior. Palm seems to hold on to more water than say Grapewood would.
If they are dying back, it might be the sap content in the wood, or salts from fertilization. Different plants prefer different environments. I found my dancing lady was dying back because of the combination of fertilizer with the rain water, even though it was less than a 1/4 solution of the recommended level. I never did an analysis on the combination but when I stopped fertilizing the problem stopped and they are growing like crazy now.

[phytochrome]

My experience says that h2o is the variable here. I have better luck with this in a pot than mounted...they have always seemed pretty thirsty. Good luck!

[line]

Well, my lady is finally dancing! It is taking roots on the tree, and new shoots are coming out, although the old roots are dying. I guess it is the change of the environment (from palm to tree) that caused the problem. I am spraying it twice a day with water, and occasionally with extremely diluted mixed fertilizer or fermented seafood.

[Brutal_Dreamer]

The roots on the dancing lady and oncidiums in general are very fine and will dry out very quickly when mounted. If you can keep the humidity up, it will be fine, but if it drys out, the roots will eventually die away when mounted in a dry place.

cheers,
BD

[wetfeet101b]

From personal experience, the oncidinae type orchids that I have prefer lots of water - I think they should be considered aquatic orchids

They share the same light requirements as the cattleyas and dendrobiums in the greenhouse, but I cannot put them together in the same place because the cattleyas and dendrobiums prefer to dry out after watering.
So I have to group all the oncids together in one spot that is closer to a mist nozzle so that they get frequent access to water.