Tip of the Week – How to Mount Staghorns & Epiphytes
Staghorns, Elkhorns and many other Epiphytes are easy to Mount. You can attach them to trees, treeferns, posts, cork, boards, polystyrene & probably other mediums we have not yet thought of!!
Did you know Staghorns will thrive in full sun in a humid climate as long as they have been sun hardened before you put them there !! ……and most epiphytes can be mounted in a similar fashion to Staghorns.
How Do You Do It?
1. Choose an attractive medium that is big enough for you plant to expand on to.
2. Have it in a place with filtered strong light that is protected from full sun at least until established.
3. If you ever attempt full sun make sure it is hardened to sun first. This is done easily if you give it winter sun & let it gradually absorb the hotter spring & summer rays. Another way is to rig a little shade cloth over the plant…you can even wrap it in shadecloth.
4. The simplest way is to pack a little water absorbing fibrous material like sphagnum moss at the back of the plant (where its roots are) and hold the plant firmly onto it & the material or tree you are tying it to.
5. Get some grafting tape or an old ladies stocking and tie it around the plant just below the middle of the plant.
Make sure that you carefully place the stocking or tape under one fron as shown on the video…….this way you can tighten the plant onto its new host very securely. You need good contact. You need good humid conditions for a good match up.; You can create this by keeping the host and surroundings and ground moist.
6. Water the back of the plant every few days until it is established. Don’t overdo the watering as more stags and epiphytes are killed by excess water than lack of it.
Prepared By Bob Chalmers Paradise Distributors…September 2012
Most of us are adventurous & just dive in when trying something we do not have experience with. This works most of the time but not always! Its easy to mount Stags and other epiphytes when you know how.