# mounting paphs?



## andalusianluv (Aug 27, 2008)

hello all, 
this is my first thread so here it goes. 
has anyone tried to grow paphs mounted on cork, or bark as you would phals? 
i was surfing through the gore orchid conservatory site and read the bio's on a few paph species and it said that some were found in/on trees! so....i thought why not grow them like is in captivity? they are epiphytic after all?

i'm just trying to conserve space/ make a nice decoration since my orchids live in kitchen window. if i can grow some like this then i can expand this idea and put them throughout my house and not have my sigificant other kill me when i try to put tables infront of every available window.

thanks!
-b


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## Renegayde (Aug 27, 2008)

ROFL now whats wrong with having your living room look warehouse like with racks and tables in front of every window......my significant other does not understand it either LOL


Todd


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## Jon in SW Ohio (Aug 27, 2008)

Yes many species like lowii do grow in trees, but most grow in pockets of moss and debris that collect in the crotches of limbs. I'd say the closest to replicating that would be growing them in a slated wood basket of moss.

I have seen them mounted before with a TON of moss, but you would still have to water quite a bit to keep them from drying out.


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## Ernie (Aug 27, 2008)

lowii and villosum are two off hand that are known to grow on trees. Both do so darn well in pots though. I'd start with lowii if I was going to try. Don't dianthum and parishii act as monkeys sometimes too? There are probably others. Shoot, I think you could mount any Paph on anything and it would work if you TRIED hard enough ***to keep all its needs met***. But, is it worth the effort? 

-Ernie


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## tocarmar (Aug 27, 2008)

If you want to hang them, you can use the net pots, but you will have to water them more often.


Tom


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## andalusianluv (Aug 27, 2008)

hmmm.......maybe i'll give it a whorl, just for fun, start with a lowii and see if it works. i'd have to modify it a bit and put in some other media. i'll see what i can come up with. does anyone know of a vendor who has a lowii variety for sale that has flat petals that face foreward? much like the 2nd picture of the lowii thread in the paph section.


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## andalusianluv (Aug 27, 2008)

don't get me wrong....if the plant looks bad i'll just do something else with it. i was also thinking about building a box of sorts that i could hang on my wall and put pots in, i've seen those in some cataloges. maybe that's a better option and i can just mount my phals.


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## Heather (Aug 27, 2008)

I'd talk to Frank Smith (Orchidfrank here) from Krull-Smith. They have the best lowiis I've seen as of late.
They aren't listed in his current catalog but somewhere around here there's a photo of hundreds of them in bloom....looking for the photo.

Okay, I found the thread but the person who posted the photos has either moved them or removed them. 
Perhaps Frank will jump in with a photo of 'Miami'. I found one online but it's the award photo taken by Greg and is copywritten. Here's a link to his web site: http://www.orchidworks.com/


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## Kevin (Aug 27, 2008)

Great thread! I've been thinking of this too, but have yet to try to implement it. Besides being epiphytic, many Paphs and Phrags are lithophytic, and perhaps that idea can be modified to work. Maybe mount the plant on a very porous rock, and have it sitting in water, so that it wicks up, to keep the rock always moist, and, also the roots. Would that be possible?


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## andalusianluv (Aug 27, 2008)

i was also thinking about this....i wonder if "oasis" could be used for this application. i hope i got a few people to think about this and actually try it!! we could share our experiences with it and tweek it!


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## Heather (Aug 27, 2008)

I had a Neofinetia growing on a piece of tufa (volcanic rock) but it was pretty well rooted. I think LIJane bought it from me and it recently bloomed for her. We've certainly seen several of them growing with little to no medium lately. Certainly and interesting experiment!


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## andalusianluv (Aug 28, 2008)

heather, i found a picture of the 'miami' variety. that is EXACTLY what i am looking for!!! how can i reach frank?


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## Heather (Aug 28, 2008)

Well, you can PM (private message) him here as Orchidfrank, or go to the Krull Smith website at http://krullsmith.com/t-contact.aspx or email [email protected] or phone him at 407.886.4134.

Realize that 'Miami' is an awarded plant so the 'Miami' name won't be on the plant but it may be he has a related cross available. 

Hope that is of some help. Good luck!


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## goldenrose (Aug 28, 2008)

Why would one want to do this experiment with a quality lowii?


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## NYEric (Aug 28, 2008)

Ernie said:


> Don't dianthum and parishii act as monkeys sometimes too?
> -Ernie



What this? 
http://www.funny-games.biz/videos/28-monkey-finger.html


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## andalusianluv (Aug 28, 2008)

goldenrose, i don't want the exact plant or division....an outcross or a self seedling, or one that looks like the second photo in the "two lowii" thread in the paph section would be just fine.


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## goldenrose (Aug 28, 2008)

I understand that. This is how I look at it & how I'm thinking. I have 3 lowii's. One is the popular 'Princehouse' clone, one could probably pick one up, out of bloom or previously bloomed for $35 or less, I paid $45 for in spike. I got 'Horizontalis' from OL last fall & I believe that was $75 it's considered BS. The third is a lg.seedling (2-3yrs. to BS), anticipated to be excellent form/quality- Mem. Agnes Helbling AM/AOS x New Horizon for $25. If I were to do a mounting experiment, would I use a $75 mature plant? I don't think so! Would I use the cheapest, smallest plant? No - it's not as established, it could be more vunerable to change. So what does that leave me with? I know cheaper quality plants take the same amount of space, same maintanence as better clones but if it starts to decline, are you or anyone of us going to act soon enough to save it? You could save it but it's also going to set that plant back a year or two easily. I believe this topic was covered on another forum & if I remember, those that tried it, gave it up. Miss one day of watering, that plant stresses & now it's more susceptible to insects as well. Good Luck whichever way you go!


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## Mrs. Paph (Aug 28, 2008)

I think in a humid Greenhouse this might be a worthwhile experiment, but I'm not sure if you could get enough humidity indoors for mounting Paphs to work... Lol - if your SO wouldn't appreciate tables infront of all the windows, they definately wouldn't enjoy molding walls and peeling paint from high humidity!


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## andalusianluv (Aug 28, 2008)

hmmmm.......well thanks everyone for giving me different angles, that's exactly what i wanted! i'll probably just mount a box on the wall to hid the pot. it sounds like this would be a neat thing to do in a greenhouse, but indoors the high humidity needed would be too much to keep up with. maybe i'll try to mount one of my phals with a backing to protect the wall and see how that goes. (i can easily replace the phals)


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## Rick (Aug 28, 2008)

I know of someone who has a mounted henryanum on a chunk of rock.


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## Kevin (Aug 28, 2008)

Do you have a pic? That's exactly what I was thinking of doing. What kind of rock?


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## Rick (Aug 30, 2008)

No pics. The grower is an AOS judge in Atlanta GA. I think he told me it was on local limestone.


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## labskaus (Sep 9, 2008)

Popow has a bunch of helenaes sitting on a piece of Travertin rock. He's stolen the idea from another grower, as he told me. The plants do o.k. but that particular type of helenaes is not exactly a weed. Mine grows as slow in its pot than his on the rock.
That kind of rock holds moisture quite well, but as others stated, this way of culturing requires lots of attention and is not really space saving. Well, helenae is, the rock isn't.

Best wishes, Carsten


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## Damas (Sep 9, 2008)

I have seen the same thing in a french prod's greenhouse: Paphiopedilum lowiis on rocks.
The prod is Nicolas, from "La Cour des Orchidees" and from his own words, result was far from concluant. The plants were growing twice slower than the very same seedlings, growing in bark. He told me he did that as an experiment, but won't lose his time again on it, useless he said.
I will go back there before the end of this month, and see if I can take some pictures of these lowiis if he still got them.
I have to say that it looked beautifull, even if not concluant from a prod's point of view (fast growing, fast flowering).


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## Damas (Sep 23, 2008)

I went to this prod greenhouse this afternoon and took a few pictures of his paphs mounted on rocks. I could identify henryanum, helenae and probably micranthum and coccineum (according to foliage) but could not take pictures of all of them. By the way I came back with a sangii and a bullenianum (potted, not on ze rocks, these were not for sell).


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## Kevin (Sep 23, 2008)

Very cool! That's what I'm talking about! That's about as natural a way to grow them as there is. I can't see from the picture, but are the rocks sitting in water? It would be nice to get some where you can actually see the roots, but that probably won't be possible - they need the moss or they'll dry out too fast.


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## Damas (Sep 24, 2008)

No, rocks were not sitting in the water. I could not see any roots from where I was looking (no possibility to turn around, sorry) and I think yes, moss is here to keep moisture.


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