cork bark or other wall coverings for greenhouse?

After three winters of draping vizqueen plastic in my carport, I finally moved ahead with building a more permanent greenhouse! I pulled about half the corrugated metal roof off the carport and replaced that part of the roof with corrugated plastic panels (not a very difficult task). I then boxed in the sides with some old glass panels from sliding glass doors my brother had collected when he worked as a home remodeler. It all came together well!

I'm now looking for a medium to cover the pressure treated plywood walls so that I can grow orchids directly on the walls inside the greenhouse. I searched on-line for virgin cork bark, which is what I've seen used to cover walls in some greenhouses where orchids are grown, but I can't find the virgin cork bark at a price I can afford to cover what is about 100 sq ft of wall space. I also found the price of osmunda fiber to be about the same or even higher than cork bark.

I'm wondering if I can use pre-made cork panels such as are used to make custom bulletin boards. These are available at the office supply stores, often on sale for very cheap prices. It seems like the cork panels would be very easy to install with their stick-on backs, uniform size, and flat shape. I would tack them into place on the plywood for a more permanent installation.

I'm especially interested in growing vanilla bean orchid on the walls. Has anyone here ever used the pre-cut cork panels for greenhouse wall covering and grown orchids directly on the cork? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions for materials I might use.

Thanks! Jeremy

Jeremy, wish I could help you. I would think though that you need a moss of some type, Spanish?, or some type of medium to staple or tie to the cork or bark. Something for the orchid roots to grab hold of.
I grow one old orchid, the mule ear, which I think is an oncidium.
I use Fertilome Potting Mix. It loves it. Doesn't seem to care that it's
not in orchid bark. So sometimes you can throw away the rule book
when growing orchids and other plants.

Jackie

HI, Jackie. Thanks for your reply. After some serious cogitation, the idea occurred to me of using hypertufa (a whole forum exists on DG for its uses). I've not used it before, but from what I read in the posts, it can be molded to shape and is inexpensive and light weight. My only concern is that the lime in the cement may be too caustic for orchid rhizomes to attach without "burning" the rhizomes, but I thought I would give it a try in a small area of the wall and see how it works. I should be able to build a chicken wire mesh support, apply the hypertufa to resemble a rock wall, incorporate some lightweight segments of tree limbs, and add some Spanish Moss or sphagnum moss to give some more moisture for the orchid rhisomes.

I plan to post my idea on the hypertufa forum to get some suggestions and advice.

Now, the trick is finding the time to launch into another major project! But I think it will be fun to design the wall to resemble a rocky wall with pockets for the orchids.

Jeremy

While Tufa is lighter weight than concrete, it still isn't lightweight like cork or bark. I would be concerned about getting it to attach securely and also the lime being caustic for the Orchids. It would look cool though