I suggest soaking the SwampStick ™ ceramic orchid mount overnight to allow the ceramic to 'prime' and hydrate.  While the SwampStick is soaking, go and collect your orchid mounting supplies.  Find a suitable orchid and some fishing line, thin string, or coated wire.

I picked this little guy because it looks like its not getting enough water on its existing mount and is a little dehydrated; a good candidate for this system.



Remove the orchid from its old home and clean up the roots leaving enough to anchor the plant to the Swampstick ™; my rule of thumb is 3 inches or longer.  If longer and healthy, leave them and you can wrap them around the Swampstick ™ when tying the orchid to it.


Take a look at the growth habit of the orchid.  New growth is and indicator of its direction so point it in the direction you would like to see the orchid grow up, down, or around the mount.  Spread the roots system out around the Swampstick ™ ceramic mount and hold in place.


While holding the roots, gently wrap the fishing line around the roots (and even old growth if need be) to help hold it in place.  You can put a little moss over the roots and wrap the string around it.  The moss will help hold moisture, and give you a good area to anchor the plant. 

You do not need a lot of tension on the string, a few wraps around the roots should be enough to hold the orchid in place until the new roots grab on.  After there is significant root growth holding on to the clay, then you can cut away the string if you would like.  I would give it a year to grow some good roots.

See the new growth in the photo above.

Once you have the orchid adequately tied to the mount, tie the ends in a  knot and trim off the excess. 


There you go!   One mounted orchid!

Now fill the orchid mount  with water and go hang your new Swampstick ™ in your growing area or greenhouse and let it do its thing.

Depending on how hard your water is, at some point you may notice some bicarbonate deposits (lime, calcium, magnesium) or "scale" on the Swampstick ™ ceramic orchid mount.  You can remove these easily with your finger and a soft bristle brush if the mount hasn't gone dry and the mineral scale is still soft.  *

If the mount is dry and the scale has hardened you can soften it by soaking the whole mount (orchid an all) in a bucket of room temperature water for 20 minutes.  Then take a soft bristle brush like an old toothbrush and go over the areas with the mineral deposits. 

The bicarbonates wont harm the orchid outright, but other mineral salts can and will damage root tips.  If you see crystallization there may be excess fertilizer salts which can burn the roots.  To remedy this follow the same procedure and soak for 20 to 30 minutes to dissolve the salts. 

When I water, I deliberately let it spill over and down the mount to give it a quick rinse.

I feed them a weak nutrient solution.  If you are using MSU, use 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gallon of water.  If you use another orchid feed, then try to feed at a nitrogen PPM of 100.

* If you are noticing a rapid buildup of scale, then your water may be too hard and you may want you check the pH as it is likely high as well.

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