FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

So I've been asked about how I mounted my orchid in a previous post, and I decided to make a guide on how I did it to maybe inspire others

So first, you need to find a healthy orchid, I bought 3 Phalaenopsis orchids at homedepot. It must be an epiphytic orchid, I don't believe this method works for terrestrial orchids.

Take the orchid out of it's pot.


Remove all the media it came with, careful not to break the roots!


Cut off all the dead roots. (The ones that are papery when you squish them, not too hard though!) Healthy roots should be nice and firm.
The following are healthy roots:


These are dead roots, the ones at the bottom that are all shriveled up and smushy:


Orchid with cleaned up root system


Choose a piece of cork bark that is suitable for the size of your orchid



Make a hole close to the top. (I just used one of the skewers that came with my orchid, but you could use anything)


Tie some floral wire through the hole. (I used bonsai wire that I had laying around)


Leave enough wire at the top to make a loop and twist it so it doesn't come undone. (I used some pliers to hold the wire as I twisted)


You can use either "invisible" clear thread, or some things floral wire to wrap the around the cork bark.


It Is much easier to tie a knot around the cork bark before you start wrapping the sphagnum, leaving a little "tail" so you could tie it up when your done.


Lay a layer of Sphagnum moss (pre-soaked, moist, not dripping wet) on top of the cork bark and wrap the clear thread/floral wire around it.


I usually tie it off here so it's easier to work with. Then make new knot around the cork bark to wrap the orchid with.


Place your orchid facing downwards on the cork bark, and then put some more sphagnum moss around the roots, carefully wrap it all around well, trying to keep the sphagnum from falling. (This part is kinda difficult)



Just tie it off from the tail you left before, and you're done!



Just find a place to hang it. (These are low light plants, keep that in mind when you select a spot to hang it)



This is how orchids naturally grow (somewhat at least) facing downwards so as to not let water sit in its crown and cause rot, instead the water just runs off the leaves.

Watering will depend on where you live, people just dunk and leave the cork piece into a bucket of water for a about 10 minutes, but I find myself just hand spraying them every morning due to the lack of space/materials I have (I live in the barracks )

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Good stuff! Now, a quick question. Will the roots eventually form to the bark and clasp onto it, allowing you to remove the holding wire? Or, is the wire permanent?


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MPHampel86 wrote:Good stuff! Now, a quick question. Will the roots eventually form to the bark and clasp onto it, allowing you to remove the holding wire? Or, is the wire permanent?


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Yes, the roots will eventually fuse to the wood itself. You could remove the wire if you want after it gets a good hold, but thats why I used the clear thread since you can't see it anyways

Nice guide, before mounting it may be a good idea to remove the bottom one or two leaves - this encourages new root growth.

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Well it depends on how many leaves the orchid has too but that's interesting!

I still don't know very much about orchids, so any tips you guys have are welcome!

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Great guide, just a couple questions. What is the best way to water orchids, regular tap water or rain water? (Heard some species dont mind tap water at all)

And is it alright to let it dry out completely during watering or should it always be moist?

Well I've heard both are fine, but if you use distilled water or R/O water, you have to add fertilizer more often.

These guys like to dry out between waterings, keep in mind that you'll have to water any type of mounted plant more often than one that is potted. People from hot climates sometimes have to water twice a day because it dries out so fast.

I find that my mounts dry out in a day, so I just mist them every morning( heavy misting) before I leave to school and it's usually still somewhat moist by night time, but are dry by morning already.

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Really good guide.

There's only one thing I disagree with :

Wikiwakawakawee wrote: This is how orchids naturally grow (somewhat at least) facing downwards so as to not let water sit in its crown and cause rot, instead the water just runs off the leaves.

While some species do tend to grow downwards, the vast majority of pictures of orchids in natural habitat show them growing either horizontally or upright. The plants that normally grow downwards (or have hanging leaves) still have the upper leaf surface on, well, the tops of the leaves. When you mount a plant upside down you're taking the part of the leaf that's most evolved to absorb light (the top) and facing it away from an overhead light source. Also, while a lot of Phals have green under the leaf and therefore will still be able to photosynthesize decently, a good number have purple under the leaves which will really block a lot of the light. I expect that your plants will grow okay but probably but not as well as if they were mounted in a more normal position. I also think as time goes on, you'll see the new phal leaves growing with their upper faces facing upward.

evenwind wrote:Really good guide.

There's only one thing I disagree with :

Wikiwakawakawee wrote: This is how orchids naturally grow (somewhat at least) facing downwards so as to not let water sit in its crown and cause rot, instead the water just runs off the leaves.

While some species do tend to grow downwards, the vast majority of pictures of orchids in natural habitat show them growing either horizontally or upright. The plants that normally grow downwards (or have hanging leaves) still have the upper leaf surface on, well, the tops of the leaves. When you mount a plant upside down you're taking the part of the leaf that's most evolved to absorb light (the top) and facing it away from an overhead light source. Also, while a lot of Phals have green under the leaf and therefore will still be able to photosynthesize decently, a good number have purple under the leaves which will really block a lot of the light. I expect that your plants will grow okay but probably but not as well as if they were mounted in a more normal position. I also think as time goes on, you'll see the new phal leaves growing with their upper faces facing upward.

I'm in no way an expert, that's why I said that they "Somewhat" grow upside down. I was actually just trying this out myself to see how well they grow Thanks for clearing that up though, all the videos I watched regarding this subject said they grow upside down in nature, so I just figured I should mount them like that.

You did a fine job of mounting them wiki - upside down included. The leaves face out toward the light which is what matters. The orientation of the plant as a whole isn't important. Also it looks awesome.

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Adelaide wrote:You did a fine job of mounting them wiki - upside down included. The leaves face out toward the light which is what matters. The orientation of the plant as a whole isn't important. Also it looks awesome.

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Thank you for your kinda words Adelaide!

It's pretty crazy how fast the flower buds adjusted to being upside down, the newer ones are opening right side up!


You can kinda see how the flower behind the center one is completely upside down





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Lovely.

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bought a piece of wood yesterday +/- 60cm (24inch), but when i got home i noticed some small round holes in the wood.

so you might already gues what im going to ask, do you have any idea how to get rid of woodworm? :p

i suppose that everyone who uses wood will sooner or later bumb into these things right?

Aozora wrote:bought a piece of wood yesterday +/- 60cm (24inch), but when i got home i noticed some small round holes in the wood.

so you might already gues what im going to ask, do you have any idea how to get rid of woodworm?

i suppose that everyone who uses wood will sooner or later bumb into these things right?

Sorry, I have no idea how to get rid of those, but make sure your piece of wood is somewhat water resistant.

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