Congratulations Gary, you discovered sliced bread Twice, no less! This is exactly how they grow in nature and I grow most of mine the same way. My Cattleya types are all mounted. This does not mean they are hanging on branches, it means the roots are exposed to air like the plant you described. 1) The classical mount, a tree branch. Stick the plant on it and never touch it again. I have some who have been on the same mount approaching 15 years and may well resemble the plants you saw. 2) Wooden or plastic basket. Difference between growing them ON a basket rather than IN a basket is that my plants are growing in EMPTY baskets. Works exactly like the tree branch except the wood has been rearrange to look like a basket. Again, once there, I never touch them again, may put the whole thing in a larger basket when it's time or just let them ramble on. 3) Plastic or clay pots. Mounting plants on our conventional plastic pots only requires you to refrain yourself from adding bark or coconut. Put the plant in a small pot without medium. Often I add a few large rocks, 1 1/2" to 2" size to stabilize it and give the pot substance to keep it from falling over. When the plant rambles over the edge, drop everything into the next size pot, also empty. The roots will fill all available space. I have a huge BLC which was last potted in 1988 by the previous owner which is about 2' x 2' x 1' in size. After 25 year, I suspect the bark in the 6" pot it's in, is probably slightly deteriorated but who cares. All of the above plants grow similar to what you are describing and cannot be over-watered. Never need to be repotted and offer a painless, satisfying and somewhat effortless way to grow them. During the heat of the summer, they need to be watered more often, once a week does not work for them. I usually water them every 2 to 3 days unless we get into the 90s in which case I water them every day. Tap water is all they ever get with a little fertilizer added every time. I do have a potting bench, but almost all of my epiphytes never need repotting. A variety of plants, Bulbos, cloud forest plants, terrestrials and a few others do better the conventional way and need to get repotted as the sphagnum moss deteriorates. Stanopeas, Lycaste, Angola for example, also don't like the empty pot treatment, they are in something. In the end, the best medium to plant most epiphytes in is air, that's what their growth media is in nature and you cannot go wrong with it. It also never deteriorates and you don't need to repot. We are so brainwashed that plants need to be in a pot with their roots covered with something, we don't give that method a chance. It works extremely well. Nick

Thanks for the info. I don't drink tap water either, ick. Usually do use it for cooking though, I figure what ever is in it will boil away. Maybe I should rethink that. I have a rain barrel now and tend to use that when I water my plants. Haven't had it very long and the ones I rotted weren't from using that water. And Crafty, I think the snow in a tub is an excellent idea! We go months here without a drop of rain. Snow would be a nice option. Arsenic in the water! I wonder why. Think I'd have to grab a bar of soap, strip down, and go jump in the ocean... Lauri

Tammy, it doesn't matter which filter you get, it will connect only to the cold water line. The ones that do not require a separate faucet have a higher flow rate, and also greater capacity (even though the filter itself is the same size - at least that is the case with the Everpure). My sink is on the island and I think the extra faucet is just one more thing to clean and one more thing that gets in my way. Having the filtered cold in my regular tap also means I can fill the water tank on my coffee machine faster, and I don't have to worry about trying to co-ordinate faucets either! Hope this helps.

A big part of the "Flint problem" is that even if the water is regularly and rigorously tested and monitored as it is leaving the municipal water treatment facility, that doesn't necessarily reflect the condition of the water when it is delivered to the customer. The story rob333 posted above doesn't mention whether the woman's water was from a well or a municipal source, but I'm sure I remember that the previous case the article mentions was definitely water from a municipal source.