Never - here is one of my oldest mounts. {{gwi:144323}} It was originally potted with three keikis staked up. If you could see close up, all of the original growths still have the sphag visible where I attached them.

If an orchid outgrows it's mount, the small mount is added to another mount.

Brooke

I never refresh it. Initially it's there to help get the plant established. Once established with roots everywhere, the plant no longer needs it anyway.

That may not be true for mounted Pleuros, Masdies, Draculas etc. These rain forest plants may benefit from fresh moss every couple of years.

Nick

On some of my older mounts, I've noticed that moss starts growing. It's not sphagnum moss, but the roots seem to enjoy crawling on top of it, and it never rots because it's alive!

Over time I have used less and less sphagnum in mounting and have never added more. The roots need to be next to the wood or rock to attach. I sometimes add some to ease the transition from pot to mount. Over time I'll cut off loose sphagnum.

my thanks to you experienced growers for your insight into this topic. I have taken the "action" of inaction re: my Colax jugosus which I purchased from Andy mounted on a "board" about 1.5 yrs ago. I'm glad that I did! Often, being a fussbudget over orchids creates more troubles....

--Stitz--

As you know, I changed the sphag on my mounted gastro. Seems to be doing well.

Sarah

I believe it might have been my comment that got this started and I should clarify.

As Nick stated so well, sphag is there to help a plant attach to a mount. If your plant absolutely needs lots of sphag to survive on a mount, then it should be in a pot, a mesh one or a basket if it really needs to dry quickly. But... When you have lots of sphag, as in a pot, it does tend to become a ball of old stuff and look very scruffy. That is what I replace when I repot. I have a couple of plants that "are just so cute on those mounts", but do need a good level of constant hydration. I tug away the sphag that I can, create some aeration among the roots, and then add some "threads" of sphag to "repot" them.

On "regular mounts", like most of my Aerangis, there is a scant pad of sphag between the plant and the mount, and it stays as is until/unless the plant needs to be moved to a larger mount. And yes, I have a green crawly thing like Calvin described. Changing it would likely stress the plant more than it would help it.

Hope this helps.

Julie

With a successful plant, the original mix, moss or otherwise, often gets lost in time. My favorite way to grow potted plants is what I call the 'Santa Barbara Pot in a Pot in a Pot' method. The initial pot is a 2" square with bark, rock, coconut or whatever. When the plant gets bigger and laps over the edge, the whole thing is dropped into an EMPTY larger square. One or two years later the process is repeated to maybe a 6" round pot, then on to an 8" round. All pots except the original are empty.

I'm looking at 18 flowers of a L purpura 'Venusus' which I bought from SBOE in a 3" pot 10 years ago. It is over flowing an 8" pot which is the only pot visible. All other pots are completely covered with roots and rhizome. The material in the initial 3" pot looses all importance as the plant moves on. I think the initial moss on a mount has similar significance or lack there off.

I don't have any plans for a larger pot for this plant. One can either let it become a plant ball, expanding outward like the expanding Universe, trim it and make new plants or drop it into a still larger pot. I plan to just let it grow unchecked.

Nick

It's a purpurata of course. I can also be noted that with this growing method repotting becomes obsolete. This plant has never been repotted, I have no bark at my place neither bags of new nor mountains of used.

10 years ago someone gave me a BLC Daffodil which was at that stage 10 years ago. I have done nothing to is since then, just water and feed. It has been hanging in the same spot for 10 years and is about 2' x 1' x 1'. The last pot is completely invisible. I have removed numerous leads from it but it just keeps getting bigger.

Nick

Julie, thanks for the clarification. A couple of my mounties "just look so cute" mounted, and might be happier if they had fresh sphag from time to time.

Not knowing about that option, I've stuck them in individual, clear glass containers w/ an inch or so of water, ala Nick's water-in-a-tray experiment.

These are the mounts that really need watering more than once a day. Once the water in the container's gone and the plant's almost dry, plant and mount soak in a bowl for an hour or so.

Creative of you. WC

I have had a number of plants continuously in a tray of water for quite a while now and have adopted a clear cut strategy. If they like it, it shows immediately with vigorous new growth. If they don't like it, the plant will begin to decline. Initially I waited for this and then removed the plant.

I now no longer do this and will remove a plant within 2 weeks if it does not show signs of vigorous growth. For example: A new Masdie arrives with 7 old leaves and within 10 days 5 new leaves are poking their heads out of the moss. That plant stays in water. Conversely a new Onc type sits there for 2 weeks and nothing happens, I would take that plant out before there is any evidence of decline.

The same is true for mounts which are treated the same way. These are small ones with Masdies, Pleurs, Lepanthes etc on them. I stand them in 1/2" of water and the water seeps up keeping the roots of the plants moist all the time. I think all of those are still in the water without exception. Of course the idea of the mount gets lost when they are not hanging and I'll probably either hang them so they'll look like a mount is supposed to look or move the plants in pots.

Nick

Nick - dunno if this'll happen for you, but I went on an all-mounties-in-pots spree one time and gradually went back cuz the plants didn't LOOK right horizontal. However, there wasn't the moisture factor that you have - I was just tired of hauling sticks to the bathroom to spray.

Calvin, I get that "living moss" in some of my pots. It COULD be that awhile back, some folks said it was a good sign. I save it when repotting and put it on top of the same plant.