Orchids drying too fast

[Master Jedi]

Hi. I have several species of orchids including cattleyas, dendrobiums, and phalaenopsis. They're potted in an 80/20% of bark and sphagnum. The humidity is between 60 and 70 rh.
The temp is about 75 to 85 during the day and mid 60s at night. The problem is a lot of them seem to dry out so fast. Even though they are dry, should I still wait to water them, watering once a week, or should I water them as soon as they become dry?!?
I try to keep the room They're in as humid as possible but I will admit the rest of the house is quite dry. So do I water or do I wait?!?
Thank you for any input.

[Blueszz]

Welcome Master Jedi.

Watering on a schedule like once a week should be avoided. You need te water them when the plants need it. It sounds that in your case that probably is more often than once a week.

However, it depends on the species how dry you can let them go. Some might be watered sooner, or later.

[Master Jedi]

Thank you. So basically, just use some common sense and trust my gut. Sounds solid to me.

[rbarata]

Is it large bark or smaler?
Pics would help.

[Master Jedi]

It's small bark. I would take pics but I'm a hospice patient and don't have the extra energy for that. But I have the answers I was looking for. If I have more questions I'll send pics then. Before I go, does big bark dry slower than small bark?
And I hope I don't come off as rude, but just texting takes a lot of energy for me.

[Roberta]

First, certainly not rude! Do what you can, and feel free to ask or not!

Big bark does dry faster than small. In fact by "tuning" the medium size to the type of plant, it's possible to water plants with different needs on the same schedule and give each what they want. So if Cattleyas are in large bark, Phalaenopsis in medium bark, and Oncidium-tribe orchids in small bark, you can water at a rate to keep the Oncitiums damp, and the same regimen will let the Phalaenopsis and Cattleya plants dry a bit as they need to and you don't have to think about it.

That is how I manage a large collection with automatic sprinklers - I have Cattleyas in baskets with large bark or none at all (they need to dry out) hanging over Cymbidiums in small bark (that like to be damp), in summer the sprinklers run every 2 days (3 days in winter) and everybody is happy - the Catts are fairly dry in a few hours, the Cyms stay damp.

[Master Jedi]

Thank you! That's good advice. I will definitely try that.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by Master Jedi

And I hope I don't come off as rude, but just texting takes a lot of energy for me.

You aren't rude!

[MateoinLosAngeles]

Your humidity seems pretty high for them to dry so fast so I imagine they are in baskets or clay pots, which dry faster, and you probably use chunkier bark. It's alright. I would follow Roberta's recommendation, I do the same.

For plants that I need to keep damp for longer I use plastic pots. If I "over pot" a plant, then I will use chunkier material. For some of my cattleyas that dry out too quickly, I place them in a basket inside of a plastic pot. This is because I know I won't be able to water them any sooner, so the plastic pot acts as a bit of a green house. I think you can achieve perfect potting with just bark and perlite, I don't even use sphagnum anymore, I just play with different sizes of bark. But if I know I can't keep up with watering, or control conditions, I will add a layer of sphagnum to the top of the pot. I do that with Phalaenopsis potted in chunky bark and with Zygos that I noticed were drying too quickly even in small bark, they all responded positively.

You'll see how the combination of different medium size and pot material will result in different drying times. It's trial and error, luckily orchids are resilient and can resist that trial and error.

Finally, keep in mind that new bark will retain much less water than older bark. In my experience it takes several months to "break" good quality bark. You shouldn't repot when that happens, as the bark will probably be good for many years to come, but you will see how your watering times get extended as the bark gets more used.