Myrmecodias as mounted plants

[Stone Jaguar]

For those growers who prefer a more natural look for their ant rubiacs rather than growing them in pots or baskets, I have attached a few photos that were taken five years ago of some plants that I grew on cork tube mounts successfully from 2006 through late last year when I donated this material to a friend. There are no real tricks to establishing these plants on mounts from baskets. I used a very small sphagnum pad on the base to provide some moisture-retentive material to surround the roots, and tied the plants with fishline until they were well rooted onto the cork. Relatively high relative humidity appears to be a determinant factor for consistent success, rather than constant watering.

 

Besides cork, there are several synthetic materials used by epiphyte growers in both the US and Europe that are worth experimenting with, such as Hygrolon, Epiweb and any geotextile sheet suitable for vertical garden applications. Weathered tree fern plaques are favored by some ant plant growers, but given current trade restrictions (CITES) this material can be very costly outside of those origin countries where its harvest and sale is still permitted.

 

DischidiaGuy has provided a number of very great photos in this forum of his well-grown epiphytic asclepiads established on different mounts. While I no longer grow ant rubiacs as  mounted specimens, my small collection of dischidias are all mounted on cork tubes and plaques.

 

- Myrmecodia tuberosa, ex-Huntington BG from Bako NP in Sarawak, together with Dischidia sp. "Wrinkled" from Ted Green.

 

- Myrmecodia beccarii "Southern Form" from near Tully, Queensland

 

- Dischidia major, ex-Ted Green, no origin colonizing a mount with a young Laelia lobata alba.

 

 

 

 

[Subrosa]

I posted this pic in a previous thread, but it seems appropriate here. It's a pic from the back of my Myrmecodia growing on a sheet of EcoWeb, which is basically a different trade name for the Epiweb Jay mentioned. It's my first attempt at an Ant Plant and I'm very satisfied with the results. The plant has grown a dozen new leaves and the caudex has nearly doubled in about 8 months:

[wickerstone]

What type of dischidia is that on the left of the third picture?  Or is that a dischidia at all?  I think it is.  Beautiful job.