Orchid Tree: Real or Fake?

Fake! Big old tree and make it like Andy used to do for the shows! You can rotate in bloomers, or plants with neat, active growth. My 2 cents....

 

Real.

Only to disagree with Karen.

 

If you plant something in a pot that will limit how big it gets. How about a nice frangipani (plumeria). I've got one in a pot and it grows well. Also I've read that orchids like their bark.

 

How cold does it get there?? Get a condo mango http://www.tropicalfruitnursery.com/mango-viewer/index.htm
It doesn't get too big, it has great bark for mounting the plants on, and you'll have awesome fruit to eat!! The condo varieties are 2/3 of the way down the page

 

cedar! take a nice limb off a cedar tree, or cut a small one down...from a fenceline somewhere where it is troublesome.....

 

I think one important consideration is will you want to move it to shows etc? Most of the folks that I know who do a tree like you're considering use a dead tree or major limb and put it in a 5 gal pot of cement. It would be heavy to move, but possible with a dolly. Manzanita may be a good contender for this method.

 

Ditto on the manzanita. Love the color of the bark and its a very hard wood. Used in most toys for large hookbill parrots if that tells ya anything.

 

You know here a while back I saw an orchid tree constructed from PVC pipe covered with a natural cork bark glued and covering the pipe. The nice thing about it was that it could be moved for showing purposes, but then you would want to use plants that bloomed pretty much along the same time line to make it a show piece. Then of couse you would need a fairly large area. Another idea I had at one time was using the Bonsi type of girding the tree for sizing purposes. If you plan to use it in an atrium size will certainly have to be a consideration.

I have number of NOID (NO I.D.) plants I keep in the greenhouse for my own enjoyment that I had thought about grouping together on a central display of sorts. I think you have just promted me to start working along that line. Hmmmm..... (gears turning and gray matter churning)

just tom

 

Is this for growing plants or just displaying plants and do you DO shows? I mean, do you set up displays and the like?

 

I made one back in '95ish using a section of a small tree that I found by the side of the road. It was a 'bromeliad tree' for the first five years or so but eventually gained a number of orchids. The tree finally rotted out last year and I dismantled it.

If i did it again, I would probably create the framework out of pvc or metal and then cover it with hardware cloth and/or cork or some other substrate. I would most likely festoon it with Angs.

You should make one, they're fun. You can grow tillandsias, broms, orchids, creeping fig and other vines, tropical pitcher plants, etc. And, if you do the base a certain way you can grow other crap in it like dirt plants, vines that grow up the tree, etc. I might have some old pics of mine if you'd like to see?

 

Personally, I think it's hard to improve on nature. I'm a fromer structural engineer turned family physician. Try to come as close to it as possible. I've only been growing orchids for about 5yrs now but it seems they like to attach to organic matter better. Although Lika's medium seems to be doing well. The problem is our organic matter is dead and breaks down(and therefore needs replacing every now and then). Still, I prefer organic matter for root attachment and will replace the substrate when it needs replacing. With a large tree it shouldn't need replacing that often.

 

"would be heavy to move, but possible with a dolly"

Candace Who the hell is dolly