# Is Driftwood OK for Mounting Orchids?



## paphreek (Sep 6, 2010)

My wife, Julie found this 6 foot (2 meter) long piece years ago. It's bee sitting in the garage ever since. The log looks darker than normal because I had just finished spraying if off with water.






I was thinking about using it in the greenhouse to grow a group of small orchids. I'm debating as to what types of orchids to try on it. I have lots of pleurothallids I could use in a low light situation. However, with the greenhouse almost completed, I could also try some higher light plants instead. My question is three fold:

1. Will this wood work for mounting orchids?
2. Suggestions for low light plants
3. Suggestions for intermediate to high light plants

Thanks for any suggestions


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## cnycharles (Sep 6, 2010)

if it's not saltwater driftwood it's possible though some people might be persistent enough to soak it enough to be usable.. that said I don't know if there could be enough contaminants in your local body of water to sicken the plants, or if the type of tree would repel orchid roots. some things that are very aromatic i've heard might not be good for orchids, but I think very generally driftwood from clean water should be okay


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## JeanLux (Sep 6, 2010)

As Charles already mentioned: saltwater would be a ko criteria for me too, otherwise I could see it completely populated with smaller 2leaved catts: aclandiae, schilleriana, even intermedia with its different vars.  !!! Jean


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## goldenrose (Sep 6, 2010)

I would think you could use it, why not?
You're going to leave it in one piece? If it were standing, you could mount higher light plants up higher, medium in the middle & low at the bottom! neat neat :drool::drool: I can picture it already! Watering demands would follow a low to high pattern from top to bottom, what an assortment you could have! Off the top of my head- higher light plants I'd consider Dends & C.acclandiae, medium - bulbos, low - phals, pleuros, angracoids.


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## paphioboy (Sep 6, 2010)

I have not had problems with driftwood for mounts. I mount dends, bulbos, catts and phals on it cos it lasts longer.. But it may not be as moisture absorbent if you are using it for pleurothallids, so you might consider adding a pad of sphag when mounting..


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## paphreek (Sep 6, 2010)

cnycharles said:


> if it's not saltwater driftwood it's possible though some people might be persistent enough to soak it enough to be usable.. that said I don't know if there could be enough contaminants in your local body of water to sicken the plants, or if the type of tree would repel orchid roots. some things that are very aromatic i've heard might not be good for orchids, but I think very generally driftwood from clean water should be okay



After talking with Julie, my best guess is that it came from a reservoir on the Cloquet River called Island Lake. Many of the lakes in that area have a brownish tinge to the color due to tannin from the surrounding swamps and bogs. Island Lake Reservoir was created around 1915, so the original tree could have been submerged by the reservoir as early as then. The shape of the tree trunk reminds me of cedar, which is common in the area.


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## etex (Sep 6, 2010)

It's a lovely piece of driftwood,Ross! Can't wait to see what you do with it!


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## gonewild (Sep 6, 2010)

One thing to consider when using driftwood or any wood for mounting orchids is "How long witll the wood last"?

If it is a species of wood that is rot resistant it will work great but if it decays quickly you will be disappointed in a year or two when the wood melts away and leaves your mounted orchid mount less. Then you have to start over. That is why cork bark became so popular, because it lasts for years.


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## tim (Sep 6, 2010)

throw it and the pleuros out, and make more room for paphs!! :evil:


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## paphreek (Sep 6, 2010)

tim said:


> throw it and the pleuros out, and make more room for paphs!! :evil:



I'm actually using it for a boundary on one bench in the greenhouse with a sign: NO DIRT PLANTS BEYOND THIS POINT!oke:


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## goldenrose (Sep 7, 2010)

tim said:


> throw it and the pleuros out, and make more room for paphs!! :evil:


:clap: :rollhappy: but there might be some paphs that would look mighty fine on there? Get the drill out!



paphreek said:


> I'm actually using it for a boundary on one bench in the greenhouse with a sign: NO DIRT PLANTS BEYOND THIS POINT!oke:


:rollhappy::rollhappy:
so how much room did you give Julie's dirt plants? Hoyas don't take up much space! (Leo & Susan - I expect a little support here!  )


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## Leo Schordje (Sep 8, 2010)

:evil: BUT Hoya are not dirt plants, they love growing in seedling bark mixes, or sphagnum. :rollhappy: They qualify for the orchid greenhouse as epiphytes. Hoya caudata & imbricata do well as mounts with no media, it will just crawl up a log, in fact that cedar driftwood would be perfect. 

Seriously, cedar driftwood that has been soaking in fresh water should make excellent mounts. Even with the tanins, water quality in most Minnesota lakes is far better than most of the other lower 48 states.


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## SlipperFan (Sep 8, 2010)

Leo Schordje said:


> :evil: BUT Hoya are not dirt plants, they love growing in seedling bark mixes, or sphagnum. :rollhappy:


Really Leo??? I grow mine in a peat/dirt potting mix, and they do fine.


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## paphreek (Sep 9, 2010)

Leo Schordje said:


> :evil: BUT Hoya are not dirt plants, they love growing in seedling bark mixes, or sphagnum. :rollhappy: They qualify for the orchid greenhouse as epiphytes. Hoya caudata & imbricata do well as mounts with no media, it will just crawl up a log, in fact that cedar driftwood would be perfect.
> 
> Seriously, cedar driftwood that has been soaking in fresh water should make excellent mounts. Even with the tanins, water quality in most Minnesota lakes is far better than most of the other lower 48 states.



Being a reservoir built in 1915, Island Lake flooded about 8000 acres of land along the Cloquet River. One of the tree species commonly found along shorelines in the area is cedar, so there was probably a lot of it submerged when the dam was built. It's my speculation that this piece could have been submerged, floating around, and sitting on the shore of the lake for 75 years. I don't really know. What's interesting is parts of the wood are rock solid while spaces in between are softer, which has left nice crevices for roots to go.


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## Leo Schordje (Sep 9, 2010)

SlipperFan said:


> Really Leo??? I grow mine in a peat/dirt potting mix, and they do fine.



Yes, really, it is true. Hoya tolerate peat the same way Phals tolerate the Pro-Mix muck that some commercial growers use.  Hoya carnosa, the most common, is one of the more terrestrial species, it hails from Japan & China. Most Hoya, especially the ones from Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, & Papua New Guinea are true epiphytes or lithophytes. You will find them high in the canopy, alongside the orchids. Most do well under a wide array of conditions, so no need to rush out and change what works for you. The Hoya I have planted in sphagnum & cocconut husk chips, in orchid baskets are really growing wild. I have to wind the wandering vines back around the basket almost every week in order to keep them from getting "out of bounds". One basket in a window can quickly create a living curtain that will give privacy and neat sweet smelling flowers.


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## gonewild (Sep 9, 2010)

Is anyone growing orchids mounted on Cedar wood?

I have always avoided cedar sawdust and shavings as a growing media due to it's toxic nature. 
But maybe in reality that is an old myth?


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## goldenrose (Sep 9, 2010)

gonewild said:


> Is anyone growing orchids mounted on Cedar wood?
> I have always avoided cedar sawdust and shavings as a growing media due to it's toxic nature.
> But maybe in reality that is an old myth?


I've gotten a couple of aerangis from Oak Hill mounted on cedar shingles, they do just fine. Could depend on the plant, as hard as we try we can't always duplicate what they're growing on in the wild. They also use grapevine, cork & treefern.


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## NYEric (Sep 9, 2010)

Does this mean that the cedar drift wood was natural park material and the remover can be prosecuted!? :evil:


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## goldenrose (Sep 9, 2010)

:rollhappy: I don't know any Ross or Julie Hellas do you?


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## paphreek (Sep 9, 2010)

NYEric said:


> Does this mean that the cedar drift wood was natural park material and the remover can be prosecuted!? :evil:



Sorry, Eric. No park there. If every body of water in Minnesota was turned into a park, there would be no place to live. Minnesota: The Land of 10,000 Lakes and 20,000,000,000,000 mosquitoes!


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## cnycharles (Sep 9, 2010)

about cedar shaving and sawdust, any broken-down wood material like that will start to decompose and just like any mulch or compost would, and release poisons. my father killed a very nice stand of raspberry bushes by putting pine sawdust around the plants to squelch the grubs and the moles that were going after the grubs; composting dust did the plants in quite nicely. that said, I don't know exactly why this happens other than maybe there is a whole lot more surface area so that fine evergreen particles can break down that much faster, but I also have plants on cedar shingles and andy's orchids sells and advocates putting orchids on cedar shingles (where I got the idea from) and most plants seem to like being on the shingles quite well


Ross, I think at least a million of those mosquitos must have decided to take a vacation in upstate ny the last few days! actually the powers that be decided to spray the swamps east of syracuse, and the sprays drove the bugs further east and they have been tormenting us all!


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## SlipperFan (Sep 9, 2010)

I've been using untreated cedar shingles, as well. Seems to work fine. But it would be fun to have driftwood to mount on -- it has character.


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