Re-mounting Sophronitis Cernua

Dead sphagnum moss on a Sophronitis cernua mount

     When I was first mounting the Sophronitis cernua back in May, I used some live sphagnum moss to pack around the roots for added humidity.  However, sphagnum moss needed constant humidity to survive, and soon turned into dead mush (picture above).  For all my other orchids, I've been using moss gathered from my parents' backyard in Michigan, to much greater success.  This kind of moss is hardier, and can better survive drying out.  As I had some of the hardy moss left-over from my dead den victoria-reginae's mount, I decided to transfer some of it over and remount the soph cernua.

Sophronitis cernua remounted with fresh live moss

     The remounting process went pretty smoothly.  The clam shells I used as mounts are generally too smooth for the orchid's roots to attach to, so I had no difficulty swapping out old moss for new and reattaching the orchids to the shell. The two shell halves did fall apart from each other, so now the two cernuas are each separately mounted.

     The orchids themselves are growing well, albeit slowly.  Each plant has one new growth, as well as multiple new roots.  If my growing conditions are right, then I can expect some flowers after the new growths mature.

     I also recently noticed that the orchid's leaves lost their purple edging. Interpreting that as a sign that it needs more light, I moved the orchid another 4-5 inches closer to the light source.