A little confused about watering…..

[SharonCC]

I initially soaked my two moth orchids when I repotted one, and brought a new one home. One is in Orchid Mix, and the new one looks to be in moss. I plan to repot that one in Orchid Mix as well, when it finishes its bloom. I’ve been weighing daily, and they are still losing about 14g each day. When I water again, am I meant to soak again, or do a normal watering…..probably 1/4 to 1/2 cup.

[Roberta]

My suggestion would be to water by letting it flow thorugh the pot. The amount, then, is not something to measure, but to observe. When you water so that it flows through the pot, two good things happen:
1. you pull fresh air into the root zone
2. you flush out any built up fertilizer salts, as well as any other crud that may have accumulated.

[SharonCC]

Ok, sounds good. I’ll do that and continue the weighing process to determine when to water. Gosh, I weigh these guys just as often as I weigh myself!

[estación seca]

Watering Phals. in sphagnum moss is very different from watering Phals. in bark mixes. With moss one should never completely soak the moss. This obliterates the air spaces and puts the roots at risk of suffocation. Instead let the top inch of moss become crisp dry before watering. Then run water over the top of the pot for just one second. The small amount of water will diffuse through the moss, leaving it very well aerated and barely moist.

Unless you keep your home quite warm, I might suggest taking the Phal. in moss out of the pot and letting it sit out so the moss dries faster. When it has dried you can put it back in the pot and resume watering as I described.

Many people who don't have a lot of time to water prefer growing in moss because the watering interval is usually much longer than for plants in bark mixes.

[SharonCC]

The orchid that is in moss, has moss on the top, and it looks like sawdust at the bottom half. The moss is crispy on top but with moisture meter, it still reads moist at the bottom. All the roots are still green and look good, but the aerial roots have dried up on the very top.
I plan to repot into an Orchid mix when it finishes its bloom. I assume I have to wait for the bloom to finish before doing that? I prefer the mix to the moss, as the orchid that is in the mix is doing quite well, and has grown a new leaf.
Can I get them both in need of water, and then do 1/4 cup every week to ten days? We spend a lot of time away during the summer, and I plan to get home every ten days to water all plants.

[Ray]

The stuff at the bottom is likely decomposed moss, and is something that will quickly suffocate the roots when watered.

Moisture meters are not reliable for orchid media. They are designed for soils, which , due to their dense nature, provide a continuous path for electrical conductivity. The fact that it is working in moss further supports my thought on the condition of that one plant.

[SharonCC]

Originally Posted by Ray

The stuff at the bottom is likely decomposed moss, and is something that will quickly suffocate the roots when watered.

Moisture meters are not reliable for orchid media. They are designed for soils, which , due to their dense nature, provide a continuous path for electrical conductivity. The fact that it is working in moss further supports my thought on the condition of that one plant.

The plant is blooming……should I just let it go drier, or repot? It feels dry when I poke my finger up through the hole in the bottom…..

[Roberta]

The plant still needs water. And Phals can be repotted any time, even in bloom, Just be gentle, don't worry about getting all the old mediu off, clean off what comes off easily.

[SharonCC]

I just finished repotting it into a bark mixture. I’m so glad I did. The plant was in a plastic sleeve with one drainage hole. The moss seemed dry all around but still very moist close to the plant. I removed as much of the moss as I could, let the roots dangle and into the bark. I didn’t water but plan to in a couple of days. I expect I need to let the moss that remains to go dry….

[Roberta]

It it is in bark, don't worry about the moss that is still clinging to the roots. If the medium drains well, you don't have to worry about overwatering. Ray has pointed out in other posts and this is spot-on: "Orchids don't suffer from too much water but rather from not enough air." The new medium is airy. Phals don't want to go bone-dry. They want "humid air" rather than "wet" around the roots, and the bark will facilitate that. You need to water more often in the new mix than you did in the old (it will dry out much faster) , and that's fine. When water flows through the bark, it pulls fresh air into the root zone, exectly what the plant wants.