Plant people are crazy!!!! And also, I'm totally jealous of that orchid chamber. And also, that Hippy is unbelievable!! Thanks for the great pics. I just planted my 11 Hippys in regular boring dumb pots. Actually that's not true, several of them are potted semi-hydroponically this year, like I my orchids. I bet they love it! Dennis in Cincinnati where winter weather has returned On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 5:38 AM, Jacob Knecht <jacobknecht@gmail.com> wrote: > Greetings bulbophiles, > > About 8 months ago I decided to mount a Hippeastrum calyptratum > seedling. Although it is a naturally epiphytic species, I have never > heard of any being grown in cultivation out of pots. I decided it was > time I experiment growing one epiphytically. I strapped it to a piece > of virgin cork oak bark with fishing line and added a thin layer > coco-fibre atop the roots. I placed it inside a "greenhouse" of sorts > (actually a growth chamber designed for growing orchids, see: > http://flickr.com/photos/morabeza79/…). The > growing conditions align with what orchid growers consider > intermediate temperatures. It has been receiving partial sun (at > least 2500 foot candles) and high humidity (always above 80% r/h) with > decent air movement. > > I have been more than pleased with how well it has responded. It has > grown dozens of new roots, many of which have attached themselves > firmly to the cork. The roots love being in open air and this is not > surprising because I have found that when this species is grown in a > pot, it concentrates its root mass within the very top layer of the > medium. Pamianthe peruviana (also an epiphytic bulb) grows in a > similar way. > > It is still a few years from blooming size, but I am so happy to see > it doing so well mounted that I thought that I should share my success > here in case others would like to try this method. It is really nice > not to have to worry about root or basal plate rot now. The mounted > plant can never be over-watered. > > I have added some more information and pictures to the wiki of my > mounted seedling. See: > > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/index.php/… > > The roots appear green because there is algae growing on them. Also, > when this picture was taken the roots were still moist, exaggerating > this. > > Hau'oli makahiki hou / Happy new year! > > Jacob Knecht > _______________________________________________ > pbs mailing list > pbs@lists.ibiblio.org > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php > http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/ >