I saw these orchids at a country "eatery" where our group tour stopped for lunch last Wednesday when we were in Puerta Vallarta. They were in little hollowed-out "logs" and also just in the tree crotches. The bloom spikes growing out of them were unreal, I don't know if you can really see them in the photos. Anyone know what kind they are by the photos? Probably not if there were no blooms. Nothing IN bloom, just getting ready for it. Huge clumps of them, I sure wished I could have just stashed one of those loggy things in my bag and brought them home for the greenhouse!

They look like big clumps of dancing lady Oncidiums to me.

Jim

That's what I thought, too Jim. Kind of neat the way they've gathered the stems together above the plant in the 3rd picture, so they won't hang out into the walkway. I'd love to see that one blooming like that.

Anna, you can use just about any wood to mount orchids on, I think. Aromatic woods like cedar or pine might not be quite as 'friendly' as some other woods, but you can do things like pour boiling water over them a few times to leach out the aromatic oils and 'weather' them somewhat.

It looks to me as if they've sort of made a 'raft' mounting for those orchids, and they've sure taken root nicely.

I was led to believe that the only orchids that lent themselves to being mounted on wood slabs are the phals. I have several of mine on cork, with about 3 more to mount but they are blooming or going to bloom. I imagine that would not be a good thing to do when they are in that phase? So, I could do others? I think they look pretty neat on cork.

I managed to score a really nice big piece of cork at a pet shop.........went in and asked if they had cork slabs, they didn't but said that someone brought in a lizard and there was cork with it..........they didn't want it so they gave it to me.

Forgot to add that those bloom spikes were SO long that they almost had to contain them somehow. I suppose that it also would keep people from picking at them and/or breaking them off when they walked by. Some had to be almost 3 feet long, I think.

Wow, great score on the cork, Anna. Every year or two, I buy myself a big slab of cork, about 18in. x 30in. and the last one I bought cost me $37. I break off right-sized pieces and mount orchids on them happily. The only down side is, the orchids probably need to be watered more often when they're mounted, at least until they're well established. On the up side of that argument is that it's nearly impossible to over-water an orchid mounted on cork. Here in FL with our high humidity and sometimes daily heavy rain, that's a great thing. Not so great for people growing inside their houses, although in your greenhouse it will probably work well, too.

I have Phals, Catts, and Brassavola types mounted as well as my little Howeara. At first I mounted them traditionally, with the cork piece vertical, but now I suspend them with string, and mount the orchids on them horizontally like a raft. They hold a bit more water this way, and I think they look prettier, too. I use the hollow side of the cork facing upwards as the 'dish' for the plant, so you can still see the nice cork bark texture on the underside.

How fun Anna, to go to Mexico...I am jealous!
I got this Onc. Mem Clarence Chang at Krull - Smith in Opopka, Fl on one of the
"Enablers Anoymous" shopping trips...and you enablers know who you are..





the spikes are 45 " from the top of the pot.

Elaine, do you have drain holes drilled in the cork, or are those just "natural" holes in the first photo?

Can I do this mounting when they are blooming or going to bloom? Or is this something that should be done when they are not?

Nope, I haven't drilled any holes in the cork except to put in hooks - then I discovered that if I used cup hooks, I could just screw them in by hand anyway. They usually end up hanging on just a slight angle so that no water ever pools on the cork.

I don't know if it makes much difference, but I don't usually re-pot or stress an orchid while it's in bloom. They blast buds on me often enough without giving them an excuse.

You live in Florida.....................I live in Wisconsin. LOL

For me at least, nothing beats cork for mounting epiphytic plants. I water them no more on cork than any other wood. I should water every 2-3 days during this time of year, but seldom do. The plants might grumble, but my hearing is not very good (so my wife informs me) so that doesn't faze me a bit.

Looks like I need to go cork shopping then. LOL

This might be a really dumb question, but since I have no idea at all how orchids would co-habitate...........if I had a large piece of cork, can I "mix" different varieties on the same piece?? Can they "integrate" or must we "segregate"???

The only reason to segregate would be different growing conditions for the individual plants; sun/shade, wet/dry, ect.

Jim

Not a dumb question - you can integrate some orchids, as long as they have the same light and watering needs. For example, I don't think I'd combine a Catt with a Phal because Phals need more shade and don't like to dry out as much.

But Catts could very well co-habitate with Brassavolas or anything Laelia. Or you could put two or three Catts together or two or three Phals for that matter. I have a big raft about 9in. by 18in. with at least 3 large Brassavolas growing very happily on it. It's the second to last picture I posted above. (that was before I knew to use the cork with the hollow side up, but they have wrapped roots all around it now anyway.

Or you could break or saw your piece of cork into smaller pieces - you can cut it with a bread knife, if it won't just break along the fault lines.

I think I used a hacksaw when I cut my big piece. LOL

Note this remarkable difference between men and women. We obviously cross posted the same answer to a question. One took a short sentence the other three paragraphs.

Jim

Heck, you can mix just about any epiphyte you want, Anna. They all basically require the same growing conditions. The primary thing is to remember what size a particular plant gets. Some epiphytes, such as bromeliads, just keep growing and growing. Therefore, I wouldn't mix bromeliads with orchids, at least not the bromeliads I grow. I guess there are dwarf ones that might mix with orchids. I try to mount only compact/miniature orchids, so that they won't outgrow their mount. Tillandsia, not only because the majority of them grow very slowly but also stay fairly small, are always good companion plants. The "Giant Airplant" may be the exception, but I have several mounted and time will tell how large they get. Of course, with tillandsia, you can always remove pups to control the size.

Ken, I like your answer. LOL