Just how do you all do it?

[Mr.Green61]

I water them daily at 9am, most of my plants are in charcoal, and vanda family plants are in pot with cocunet fiber, they are doing well, only need twice watering in very hot days

[Ray]

As indicated by the responses here, there are many ways to manage the watering of a large collection. Personally, I go with Mr. Green on this one - grow in a very open medium so the roots can breathe well, then water everything at once. I call that the "Fire Hose Technique".

[jkofferdahl]

All of my orchids grow in windows with the lighting assisted by lights (sorry for the redundant phrase) except the Paphs, which make do with just the natural lighting. Each morning I check them, carrying a pump sprayer to water as needed. My mounted orchids get watered, period. Others get watered if they are dry and ready. Twice a week I carry them to the kitchen sink and thoroughly water and fertilize as needed, skipping those which are still moist enough. A full watering morning can take about an hour and a half, but it's a relaxed and pleasant hour and a half, during which I also look over the plants for problems and surprises.

[Royal]

I water by pot size. The smaller pots will dry more quickly (3 or 4 days) with less media to hold moisture. The huge pots need over a week to dry thoroughly. The medium pots (most of my collection) will dry in about a week.

BUT, this is a collection of mostly Cattleyas, and they are all in a similar medium. Differences in media, light, temp, and air flow will change things up for you.

[dounoharm]

i have a greenhouse and everything is segregated by light needs....i hand water about every 4-5 days as necessary paying attn to each and every plant... i think if you hand water you can tell the needs of individual plants vs having a sprinkler system where you might miss one...i dunk the mounts daily and mist the vandas daily...course the fogger runs during the middle of the day on the vandas too...its all as an as needed basis...

[Royal]

Originally Posted by dounoharm

i have a greenhouse and everything is segregated by light needs....i hand water about every 4-5 days as necessary paying attn to each and every plant... i think if you hand water you can tell the needs of individual plants vs having a sprinkler system where you might miss one...i dunk the mounts daily and mist the vandas daily...course the fogger runs during the middle of the day on the vandas too...its all as an as needed basis...

Ditto that. I hand water too. It gives me a little bonding time.

[isurus79]

I pot my plants so that they all need the same amount of water. Plants that need to dry quickly are potted in a fast open media with holes in the pots and plants that need to stay moist are potted in spag, but usually in baskets. That way every plant has the exact same needs for water. Dormant plants are another issue and get put in a corner and forgotten about until they show new growth. Then they are put back in the mix just like everyone else! I do hand water them all so that I can check them though. I call orchids "the plants of eternal vigilance" due to the fact that things can change (good and/or bad) very quickly and often do, therefore, IMO, you should look at each one everyday if possible.

[Bill_NeOh]

I water twice a week for the most part. I have a greenhouse and adjust each plants needs by the potting medium and its location relative to the two circulation fans that run 24x7. But I also watch each plant's health and adjust accordingly, mostly by what I see happing with the roots. Healthy roots = happy orchid. But in the end I'm always making adjustments. Like right now the humidity runs high so I'm conscience of my phals so I don't get crown rot.

[orchids3]

Maree,
Your question is more complicated than I think you can imagine. The first consideration for water schedule is - 1. What time of year is it. 2nd is what type of orchid are you talking about and 3 how are you growing it.
I give my collection of cymbidiums a heavy mist twice a day in the summertime but just water them enough to keep the media from drying out in the cooler parts of the year. Vands and Nobile dendrobiums seem to like it in the cymbidium shade house but Vandas have to go in in the winter. The best thing to do I believe is study where each type of orchid grew in its natural habitat and try to match its growing conditions. It takes a lot of time and study but thats what makes orchids so interesting. There are cymbidiums that I dont water at all in the winter for example so for every rule someone could give you there is an exception. Find someone in your orchid society that grows something well that you want to grow and ask them. The talkers that never show something good dont know what they are talking about.

[Leisurely]

I have about four hundred plants in a greenhouse. Seventy five of them are Phalaenopsis. When the Phalaenopsis need watering everything else gets watered. That's about every five days in summer and every week to ten days in winter. The exception is very small seedlings, mounted plants and Vandas that get misted or watered more frequently.