Pictures to come! Some went yesterday into my coral stone rocks and tomorrow is tie to the tree day! I have a live oak that has a lovely crook just begging and a clump of broms that will fit perfectly--long with three plants on the root.. The rest get tied into some palms. I picked up four different kinds of tie material today at Lowes--even VELCRO!!! I'll report back when all is said and done and I pick all of the thorns from my fingers!
Debi

I'd love to see some tying techniques for Broms. Foreign to me.

Evan, if you are mounting bromeliads on some sort of wood, here is what I do for all my mounted plants, and I have many dozens mounted, from staghorn ferns, bromeliads, tilladsias, and orchids.

1. Decide where you want the center of the plant base to be. Let's say the base (root end) of the bromeliad is 4" in diameter. Drill four holes, using something like a 1/8" drill bit, two approximately 3" above the center point and 6" apart and then two more 3" below the center point and 6" apart. So now you have a 6x6" square with holes in each corner.
2. Take a handful of long-fibered sphagnum moss and place it in the center of that square and then place your bromeliad (root-end base) on this mound of moss.
3. Now its time to thread your tie-down material. I have started using florist wire, the green coated kind, but you can use any plastic covered wire, monofilament fishing line (about 10 lb. strength), or even cotton cord to tie your plant down. Whatever you use, starting from the rear of the mount, thread it through one hole and thread it through the hole that is catercornered (diagonal) to the first hole. Do the same with the other two holes. You can use two pieces of wire or one piece to accomplish this. Now you have crisscrossed the base of the plant with wire/line. Leave plenty of slack in the wire for the next step.
4. You now want to cover the base of the plant so that the wire/line will not cut into the plant. I use coconut fiber for this but you could use the same sphagnum moss as you used behind the plant. Just cover the base of the plant in some (protective) material and then its time to cinch the wire/line in tightly across the plant base. All your wire/line should be in the back of the wood mount so just pull the ends tightly and tie everything together. Your plant should now be firmly tied down.
5. If you are mounting a tall plant (bromeliad), you will want to support that upper part of the plant. I drill two more holes about 1/2 way up the mount and adjacent to the side of the plant. I then thread another piece of wire/line through one hole, cross over the plant, thread it through the other hole, and then gently tighten and tie the two ends together. You don't want this so tight that it cuts through or strangles the plant but tight enough that the plant won't be able to tip over.

Feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Wonderful instructions, Ken. They do root pretty firmly into the bark if it is rough, and porous enough. Fasten them firmly enough (so they don't move) to a branch or piece of bark and they will be rooted to it in few months.

I've been gradually thinning this clump in the crutch of an oak tree, and believe me, they are really rooted in there! It takes some determined prying to get them loose.

Since I live in a temperate area, I can't leave my tropical plants out from November until March. I have to mount them so that I can bring them inside during those cold months. If I mount my bromeliads on rough wood or something like cork (the greatest mounting material I have ever found), they will indeed attach themselves to that surface.

I use the green coated wire. A friend and I mounted all the broms this AM using the wire and applying directly to the tree. I don't like having another medium between the tree and the plant (orchid or brom) as it tends to rot and slip. I also use this method with staghorn ferns. However I do place a bit of coconut tree fiber in the top where there is a gap. We did actually just place several in the crook of an oak tree with any tie-down as the tree is so large.
Debi

Yes, you certainly have more options when placing your plants directly onto trees. You are going directly to what nature has supplied for your "mounts". I have to be a bit more careful and am limited as to what I can do, since I am mounting to woods that generally will be hung from some sort of wall or other structure. All I can use my oak trees for is to hang mounted plants or orchids pots in 18x18" square wooden baskets (which I make). I have approximately 100 plants hanging from oak tree trunks and limbs. I dread it when fall gets here and I have to bring all my plants inside.

I've tried mounting broms and orchids to the one big tree I have but they never attach, I think because the cats climb the tree. However, I'm now contemplating putting some on the timber bamboo that I have growing in the back. It has trunks about 4" in diameter and the cats don't climb it. It's smooth though, do you think they will attach?

You're really better off looking for a tree with a rougher bark.

The orchids (probably) will slowly grow enough roots to encircle the bamboo, this "attaching" themselves to this surface. I don't think bromeliads ever would. Another (possible) problem is the density of the bamboo. It holds no moisture and your plants would really dry out quickly mounted on them. Find some old, beaten up wood somewhere, anything will probably work so long as it is not treated, mount your plants on this and then hang it from the large tree's limbs. Your cat, or most anything else, won't bother them. However, and this is a true story, birds might nest in the large plants, particularly large orchids in 10-12" baskets. Two years ago I had a pair of mourning doves nest in one of my basket-orchids and raised three young ones. I just left them alone and by mid-summer, the young were old enough to fly and they all left the nest, never to return again (at least not so far).

I agree with the rougher bark. I've had a devil of a time getting the orchids onto some of the palms. Have managed in the end but taken longer than I would have thought. I am now being rewarded with blooms galore--of course the wet summer has not hurt! I fertilize a good bit and I think that has made a huge difference (of course not being away for 3 months at a time may have made a difference as well!)

18 inch baskets--I'm jealous! Can't find any here of any good size!

When I need something large, square, and with a flat-bottom, I make my own lattice, hanging baskets. The baskets last over a decade IF I don't leave them on the ground for extended periods. The bottoms will then rot.

Thanks for the great instructions Ken. That should work for my narly weeping cherry next year.

Thanks Ken and Toomanyorchids, I'll put them on another piece of wood first. Fertilize??? hmmmm, that could be part of the problem, I never remember to fertilize.

Since I grow so many tropical plants, over 600 and counting, I tend to fertilize everything in segments of where they are. I want to fertilize weakly, weekly. One week I will fertilize my "baby" and "teenager" orchids, which are in my "Orchid" greenhouse and the next week I will fertilize all my plants that are outside. Basically I am fertilizing something every week. There is no way I can keep up with different fertilizers for all my species and varieties, so I fertilize them all with the same formulae of fertilizer. That may vary depending on the season, but they all get the same. I am a hobbyist, not a commercial grower, and I am a "one-man-operation". I may be doing everything wrong, but my plants seem to accept my methodology.

Jonna, if you begin to alternate fertilizing with watering, you will finally get to the point that you do it by habit - one week fertilizer, the next week water. Once you establish this regimen as a habit, you won't even have to think about it. It is like flossing your teeth. Once the habit is established, it will be with you forever.

P.S. Do you think I was once a dentist?

LOL, you sure sound like my dentist

I will try that once the dry season starts. At this time, when it rains every evening, I don't often water and if I did it would probably not be good for them. It wouldn't be good for my electric bill either. I try and use the well pump less in the rainy season so I can use the dehumidifier part of the AC more. It sort of balances out, the well pump uses a lot of electric and all of my garden watering is from that. Once the rains stop, I'll need to water almost every day through the winter. I recently bought some water soluble fertilizer for use with a hose sprayer, my intention is to use that when I water but weakly.

Woke up a bit early and for some reason looked to see what is happening here. I have hundreds and hundreds of bromeliads in my naturalized forest.

a few shots from the other day while I was planting bamboo but couldn't resist taking some pics.

Looking good, @Fred!