Hi,

I've got a staghorn fern that I'm wanting to mount to hang inside. I've researched what type of wood I should use as a mount and most say it needs to be a type that won't rot (makes sense). Some sources say to use treated wood, others say to avoid using treated wood. I find cedar (suggested multiple times as a naturally rot-resistant wood) fairly expensive and it's not extremely common here in NZ. I do however have a sheet of marine plywood (i.e. treated) that I'd like to use, does anyone know if this would be fine for it or have any other suggestions?

Thanks

I personally would never use treated wood to mount any plant.
You can optionally mount a stag horn on non-salt driftwood, on a piece of chickenwire framing covered with moss or tree fern, or in a wood slat orchid basket. The plant will eventually cover almost any mount

I was just wondering about this in the past week or so. Thank you Gina!! Once it gets a bit warmer, I'm heading to the lake to look for driftwood!

Get a big a piece as you can!

Thanks Gina, I'll see if I can come up with something. Why do you avoid treated wood, if I may ask? Is it because you're worried the plant will take up some of the chemicals?

I avoid it because I have a friend who had a large greenhouse (about 1500 square feet) that her husband built for her out of pressure treated wood. Most of the building wood here is treated because we have several species of termites. Hers was a wood frame construction built as a shade house, it was screened all around but had a Lexan roof which was not completely water tight. When water would drip off the wood of the roof frame, either from rain or condensation, wherever it dripped on her plants (orchids, succulents, bromeliads mainly) it would cause significant damage.

PT wood has a lot of chemicals in it, including arsenic and I don;t know what else, I don;t think its really MEANT to get wet a lot...its meant to be used as the inner framing for houses. When its used here it is set into the ground in concrete.

You can build simple mounts for your ferns out of this like untreated fence posts, basket slats, all kinds of things....this is one I have, this is from several months ago, the plant is a lot bigger now. Whatever you use, it needs the ability to be able to be saturated with water on a regular basis. That is why cedar and cypress are so often recommended, they can stand up better to the copious water needed to keep these happy. Another good choice of mount is a large cork bark slab