Growing Pleione on rockwool slabs.

[LarsB]

In another thread i mentioned that i used slabs of compressed rockwool for mounting Pleione and other orchids. Here's a a couple of pictures of the material and how it looks when you have grown a Pleione on it for a year.

It is kind of a semi hydro culture as the rockwool should stay wet all the time - for Pleione: while the roots are alive.

[Paul Cumbleton]

Hi Lars,
Interesting way to grow these!. How do you attach the bulbs until they make roots? - do you tie them on with wire?
A friend of mine in Germany grows some Pleione in another interesting way. He gets long clay pots and blocks up the drainage holes. Then he wires a layer of living wood moss all over the outside of the pot. The pot is then kept filled with water which makes the moss root into the surface of the pot and grow. He then mounts Pleiones in the moss. Looks very natural, hanging up in the greenhouse like a hanging basket.

Paul

[LarsB]

I attach them either with fishing line or toothpicks. The toothpicks are sometimes rotting way a little too fast.

It's not all Pleione that has done well, and i've only tried this method for two years, but some, like the Zeus Weinstein 'Desert sands' to the right and Barcena to the left makes really nice size bulbs. Fuego was the first i tried and I've never had bulbs as large before.

[Luc Gilgemyn]

Very interesting Lars ! 
It's hard to see on the pix, but how thick is the rockwool slab please ?

[LarsB]

It is approximately 2 cm, but i usually put two pieces together. That way i'm able to go on holiday as well without the plants drying out.

Here's one seen from the side. It's a two layer slab.

[David Pilling]

Is the bottom of the rockwool constantly in water, or would that make things too wet.

[LarsB]

I think it would become too wet, but some plants might tolerate it.

[karel_t]

That is good idea for a small amount of bulbs. How quickly the moss will cover the rockwool slab?
K.

[arisaema]

Interesting experiment, but I'm admittedly a little curious about what makes this an advantage over growing them in pots? Do you keep them inside over summer?

[LarsB]

They take approximately a growing season for the moss to cover them. The advantage of growing mounted instead of pots is that the watering is much easier as it is almost impossible to overwater them as the roots are on the material, not in the material. You could also say that it is closer to the way they grow in nature.

[arisaema]

You could also say that it is closer to the way they grow in nature.

Having seen a few hundred in the last couple of days I'm tempted to disagree with you on that point... Do you plan on keeping them growing on the same rockwool slab next season?

[LarsB]

I've never seen them in nature, but from what i've read a lot of Pleiones are growing on moscovered stones, slops, and branches. The rockwool slaps imitate that quite well. At least some of the Pleiones i've tried like it very much. I've had some growing for a couple of seasons now and they do tend to get a little too close together, so i pick out some of them. The rockwool can last for five-six years i guess, maybe more, but will eventually break down.

[arisaema]

I've seen them on trees, on cliffs and on the ground, and they all seem to have their roots deep down in the decomposing lower layer of moss. (The one on the ground grew in pure humus!) Once the moss-layer on your slabs grow thicker it will mimic nature, but then you won't be able to remove last years dead roots...

[LarsB]

Nice pictures. Which Pleiones did you see?

I can't remove hte dead roots until the old bulb is dead. Then i remove the rest of the bulb and as name of the roots as possible.

[arisaema]

Probably P. bulbocodioides and limprichtii? I've never been there in spring, so your guess is as good as mine. I saw P. yunnanensis in leaf back in June, that was a true "ground orchid", growing in humus and limestone gravel alongside Cyp plectrochilon.