I have two didieri and one is mounted and one I unmounted and put into a net pot with clay pellets.

I do have a g/h and even on grey ugly days I still have to water the mounted one. I can go two days with the net pot one.

I don't add humidity/foggers/etc to the g/h. It is what it is and my plants adjust to it. In the winter with the heat running my humidity is very low except on rainy days. Today it is 75 here but my two big vent fans are drawing air through the vent wall and the humidity exits through the fans. When I left the humidity was under 20%. Growing in your home you can change the pot, media and frequency of watering to make up for lack of humidity.

Brooe

You could try attaching the plant to a piece (or pieces) of tree fern and stuffing that in a pot. I've been using this method for years with great success. I do grow a lot plants mounted in the traditional manner, but finding a place to hang all of them becomes a problem. The "tree fern in a pot method" solves the problem nicely.

Here's a photo of my Ceratostylis retisquama grown that way. I started out with a 3-4 inch piece of this plant many years ago. I pinned it to a tree fern piece, stuffed it in a pot with a few more pieces of tree fern and that was that. The plant is now about 18 inches across. I have no idea what is remaining in the pot since I can't see inside it any longer and I don't worry about it. The plant grows like a weed.

I can't guarantee this method will work for every plant, but it's worked for me on almost everything I've tried.

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Kevin

Here's another photo of a Restrepia species grown the same way. In this case, I can lift the entire piece of tree fern out of the pot to show the nice root growth. The tree fern allows for good air circulation, but the combo of tree fern and pot holds a bit more moisture longer and creates a mini-micro-climate of humidity around the roots which is exactly what a lot of these want. I would recommend clay pots only.

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Kevin

Thanks for the replies! It sounds like the combination of the tree fern and the clay pots retain moisture and allows for air circulation. I have never used tree fern before so this will be interesting. Can I use the lose tree fern or should I get the mounts/pads?

Brooke - how do you like the clay pellets overall? I have those but I have not decided how I want to use them.

I use clay pellets for almost everything that needs to retain some moisture but also needs plenty of air around the roots. All of my potted Catts are in pellets and clay pots.

Kevin has a great idea to help a mount retain moisture but not too much moisture. I put two different mounts into a small clay pots to reduce the need to water them daily.

Here is Aerangis citrana mount sitting in a 3" clay pot, watered daily if sunny but can go 3-4 days when it is grey and ugly.

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Brooke

I am definitely going to try pot mounting!

I has just wondering about the pellets because I have a small bag of them.

Brooke, how do you get that moss growing on your pot? Does it stay consistently damp?

In answer to your question about tree fern - use the slabs, not the loose stuff. If you don't have a local supplier, Oak Hill Gardens sells various sizes. For instance, a 10x10 inch slab is $5. You just saw it into the size chunks you want.

Kevin

Thanks, Kevin. I went to my local place but did not have any luck.

Brooke's picture of the Aerangis is very similar to how my friend has her Psychopsis mounted- only it has the pot upside-down and the mount is screwed to a stake which is jammed through the bottom hole and secured. The mount touches the clay pot and the whole shebang sits in a saucer of water- which keeps the clay pot moist. It works great- I just don't have a picture of it.

Thanks, Kevin. I went to my local place but did not have any luck.

Penfold the pot stays fairly shady and moist.

Brooke

My tree fern just came in today. I will likely try mounting my Ang. tomorrow. I also ordered a dendrobium kingianum. It came mounted in sphag so I am going to put to entire thing in a clay pot too! Again thanks for the help.

Kingianum mounted in spag? Hard to imagine what that means, but in any case search the net for kingianum culture notes written by the late Wilford Neptune, master grower of that species in Northern USA.

Hi Arthur - The kingianum is supposed to be a blooming sized miniature. A picture of it is below. What do you think?

This is my first kingianum so I will definitely search for Wilford Neptune's notes. Thank you for the tip.

Here is a link that might be useful:

The plant is fine, i was just curious about your description.

Here is the second paragraph from the master growers notes....

"This plant will grow vegetatively at any temperature, any light, and any kind of watering and feeding- but if one wishes it to bloom to its fullest potential, then it MUST be grown cool (min night temp in autumn and winter below 50F); maximum light; lots of water when growing; and lots of food, but never in a high Nitrogen ratio."

This will be my first attempt at grow/blooming in the cool range. I should be able keep them in the 50s for fall. I will have to work out a plan for the rest of the winter. Thanks for the advice.

One a related note, how do you decide what to mount and what to pot?

That is a difficult question.....in the case of Den. kingianum
it probably doesn't matter all that much though you would rarely see one at an orchid society meeting or grown on a mount. It is best grown and managed in a pot. But as i said above your plant is fine...do not fiddle with it.

Some are just best on a mount. One example is Cattleya aclandiae. I've tried a couple in pots and they died. My latest attempt is happily growing on the cork mount as purchased from the orchid nursery, one day in the future with luck and fingers crossed it might even bloom.

I am the plant/show marshal at the local orchid society and very few orchids are exhibited on mounts. Scarce numbers out of couple of thousand orchids exhibited during the course of a year.

"how do you decide what to mount and what to pot?"

If it's a plant I'm totally unfamiliar with, I do a lot of reading. I look to see who's selling it and if it's generally offered mounted or potted or both. Sometime you just take a chance or grow it for a while potted and then if it doesn't do well, you try it mounted.

After a while you get better at the guessing. It just takes time and a willingness to observe and make adjustments.

Kevin

Thank you for the replies! I have been doing a lot of reading on Angrecoids but I am having trouble deciding what is possible to pot and what must be mounted. My didieri looks better have a few days out of the pot. I also have an Ang. leonis which came mounted but I often see it potted. As a home/windowsill grower pots are a more attractive option.

Arthur - I appreciate the specific instructions not to mess with my Den. Kingianum. I definitely had my eyes set on it, but I will leave it be.
:-)

Greencurls, thanks for starting this thread.

RH here is usually in the mid-teens to low 30%, and it'd be terrific not to have to soak the mounties every day. 2 of the 3 remaining mounties are down in a wide-mouthed, clear glass cannister w/ stones and water in the bottom, but they don't touch the water.

Kevin, my rambling Trichoceros antennifer on a 10" slender tree fern pole didn't make it, maybe because I couldn't keep it wet enough. The pole was in a clay pot & anchored by stones, but perhaps it needed to be soaked daily, rather than have water poured over it.

Maybe choose plants that are happy on shorter & smaller pieces.

Do you still have to water yours daily? Soak? Spray? Pour water through them?

Speaking of which - Liz, your friend's upside-down-pot method sounds intriguing. So, do you know if she just keeps the saucer filled, rather than having to water the Psychopsis every day?

Kevin, were you the one who covered an upside-down clay pot w/ sphag, attached mounties, and put the pot in a saucer of water? Or did I make that up? :)

It'd be so much fun to have a whole new shopping category after all these years.

Thanks, WC8

Hi WC8 -

I have been spritzing my didieri daily and soaking it once a week. Of course I have only been following this routine for a couple of weeks. Still I think my Ang. didieri is ok. Time will tell. I submerge my Den. kingianum, which is in sphag mounted on cedar, about 2x a week. I am sure this will change as the weather heats up. All of my mounts are in clay pots. I will let you know how these work out in in a few months.

Hey Greencurls, how did you mount the Ang. on the tree fern piece? Am interested to hear the details.
And Brooke, you've got a great example there. I can't make out what it is mounted on. Did I get it right that you have it on tree fern too? And do you have clay pellets in the bottom of that pot?
I must say Kevin's method sounds/looks good.

Hey Burton - My Ang is mounted on a 3.5x5 inch piece of tree fern. At first I just tied the Ang to the tree fern. Later I put a small pad of sphag moss behind it. The mount is in a short clay pot. I put clay pellets in the bottom pot. I am hoping that this adds a little additional humidity. My Ang's roots are in the air so they are not clinging to the tree fern or in the pellets. Like I said, it has only been one month. So I will see how it goes.