I have over 1,000 orchids, all except the Cymbidiums, a few species in moss and a few Australian Dendrobiums are mounted. A friend of mine has 1,000 plus in pots, he started repotting 1 month ago, he is only half way through as we speak. I don't have a repotting bench, no montains of bark new and old and have not repotted an orchid since Jan 2,000 when I cut myself badly wrestling a pot bound D speciosum out of a pot with a sharp tool of sorts. I decided at that time that there will be no more repotting, 90% are mounted, the rest are in rock. I never regretted that decision. I even have some Cymbidiums mounted as an experiment and they are doing fine. I would like to substitute the words 'Bare root growing' for 'mounting'. Since they are not parasitic, an epiphytic orchid derives only one thing from its host. A place to live and support so it does not fall to the forest floor in a storm. If you reduce the purpose of mounts to that, it opens all kinds of new possibilities. The plants don't care if they grow on a piece of wood that looks like a branch or pieces of wood that have been cut and reassembled to look like a basket. They grow equally well in an empty plastic basket or for that mater an empty plastic pot. They will grow on an old fridge or a car on blocks with the hood up, they just need support. To prove my point (occasionally I give talks) I have a vigorous catt growing in a suspended old tennis shoe. 5 new leads at this time, should have 5 bunches of purple flowers this fall. Blc Seach Urchin to be exact, but it would work for all of them. I took a bunched up Catt, ran some wires through its root ball and hung it up. That plant is growing on NOTHING. The whole point of this is that the plants don't care what they grow on as long as they are supported. Water, light, temp, food, air movement etc is what makes a sucessful plant. You can let your imagination run wild and mount them on anything that blows your skirts up. List of my favorite mounts: Branches and other pieces of wood with character Wooden baskets Plastic baskets Empty pots with holes drilled in the sides so roots can come out Rocks, lava rocks look really great Trees Houses, nail a few plants to the eves, wooden window frames, etc Fences I don't have cars on blocks with the hood up but they would look a lot better with some Cattleys all over them. 1,000 Orchids 'Missing in Action' sounds about right. Nick

Back to the original question. Oncidiums not only have fine slender root compared to Vandas, Catts or many Dendrobiums, but they slao are not as eager to attach to the mount. I have all of mine mounted but in empty baskets, empty pots or branches that provide a 'saddle' for the plant to squeeze into. A 'Mount' does not have to be a branch or a plank, any object which gives support to the plant and prevents it from falling to the floor satisfies the requirement. Paul Gripp form Santa Barbara Orchid estates is a big fan of 'pot in a pot in a pot in a pot'. He will take a small plant which has outgrown its pot and put it in an empty slightly larger pot, repeating the process as the plant gets bigger. Oncidiums lend themselves perfectly to this method of growing. I have a huge Onc sphacelatum hanging over the edge of an eight inch pot in all directions. Inside there are 3 or 4 smaller pots all totally rootbound but no growth medium of any sort has ever been given to this plant. I place all Oncidiums inside an empty basket or empty pot small enough to provide a snug home for the existing root ball. If the plant is very small, I give it a little moss. Once the plant is growing well, the size of the pot or basket may be increased as needed. When the plant is spilling over the side I simply drop it into the next larger pot ot basket, no medium is added. You can mount them on branches but they are very slow to attach and their strength to hold on always seems to be a little less than required. I will place them in branches that have a fork at the point of the mount so the plant has a 'saddle' to sit in. As the plant grows and squeezes into its space, one ends up with a successful mount. A plank from a fence obviously does not lend itself to this application. The reason I mount Oncidiums even though they might be better off in pots, unless treated like I stated above, is that 95% of my plants are mounted. I water them daily, on hot days more than once. A plant potted in the conventional way would drown in this deluge. I lack the space to have potted plants sit on their own, they have to live under the mounted ones which dominate the scene. Having a plant in a pot full of bark and watering it twice daily is a death sentence. If you mount Oncidiums in a satisfactory way they grow just fine, at least as good as potted ones. A few years ago I won 'Best Onc of Show' at the East West Orchid Show at the 'New Otani', in LA, a major orchid show, with an intergeneric which filled a 6" basket to the point of overflowing with 17 flower spikes. No medium so technically the plant was mounted. In nature they are growing on branches in trees, there is no reason why that should not work in cultivation. Nick

Aside from those technical considerations, I think it was nicely done. It is attractive and not overloaded with sphagnum. I have seen some very successful Phals mounted and grown indoors. They have to be watered frequently, but we all like to fuss over and love on our orchids, so that is not such a problem. I have used several kinds of wood and find that fruit woods or hard woods are fine. Apple, cherry, oak. While they rot eventually, the plant has often outgrown the mount by then anyway. Having said that, I almost always use cork bark now. Very good job, you will enjoy having it grow this way.

What gets me is so many experts say many of those orchids dont grow in the bay area..and i wasted time believing them until i put them outdoors and they did fine. Stanhopea is one and a beautiful Dendrobium is another, that has lime green glossy and highly segmented plump stems-it looks exotic out of bloom is another thing i like about it.In 2006 it bloomed twice in one year outdoors. Right now a Masdavallia is in bloom,a red-orange type.Laelia's lived years. A Oncidium that is a little on the rare side with a bloom that looks like a wasp to me but is called a butterfly orchid(the name i have someplace!) so far is growing slowly but truly on a piece of tree fern trunk. An Angrecum spends most of the year outdoors-i did bring it in last year in January-back out in late February. The "DARWIN" Orchid. So ,bay areans use that list posted by the SB society as a good guide-those orchids will do far better on your porch or covered patio then indoors. Especially when they are finished blooming and you dont know where to put them in the house.