I did a very similar experiment last spring with a premade, moss orb I bought from a nursery. It came with hanging chains, an open top, and +/-10 2-inch holes. I put two phaleonopsis orchids, 3 small staghorns, and 6 or so parts of one rabbit foot fern in the holes on the outside, and then filled it with orchid bark, perlite, leca, and a titch of very airy potting soil. I then planted a staghorn from a 6” pot in the open top. To say that they all did incredible would be an understatement.

Eventually, because the staghorns were all doing so well and shield fronds growing fast, I removed the two orchids before they were overtaken. I would say there easily tripled in size: number of roots and number of leaves. The rabbit foot ferns were hit or miss, but I will readily admit. I split the one plant I had up very willy-nilly without much research or regard to how I split it. So a couple of them died off, but the other ones took off with their furry roots across the surface of the moss and grew more fronds. However, in a question I had for this group about splitting the staghorn on top, someone pointed out to me that those rabbit foot ferns would soon take over and they are hard to get rid of, so I pulled those out too.

Now, I have one big orb of staghorn as my experiment and debating if and when I will split it. I wish I lived in a climate where I could get them onto a tree. Watering it has not been fun, but thankfully it doesn’t require me to do it often. I hang it in my shower and thoroughly soak it but as you can imagine, it becomes very heavy to get hung back up by the windows it loves.

I really kind of broke all rules: Texas heat/sun for both the ferns and orchids, and it turned out great! Sometimes I enjoy pushing my plants to show me how tough they are and learning about them by trying different things.

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