watering phals in the orchiata

[JerseyGirlBecky]

O.K., I know this sounds silly, but, how do you water when in the bark.
I sit mine in the sink and slowly pour slightly warm water over the bark. Of course, it runs right out the bottom. Most of the time I do it twice, wait for it to drain, then put it back and get another. I keep the bamboo sticks in to check for wetness.
Do you guys water once, twice? Is this enough? Too much?
I just got all new clear pots and ordered the Orchiata, so my poor orchids are getting repotted once again.
Becky

[roby]

personally, I do it once
they love the bark moist, not too wet

[Royal]

Hi Becky,

I water like you described - an initial drench until water runs out followed by another drench to make sure it gets thoroughly wet.

[ardera]

I run water over them for 30 seconds each

[ardera]

I also soak them maybe once a month, instead of running water, for about 10 minutes.

[RosieC]

I do a complete mixture of things, depending on the orchid, what time I've got, and probably on my mood as well

All my phals have an outer cache pot. I fill that with water/fertiliser mix up to the top of the medium. Let them soak maybe 5-10min then drain them. (They've been known to get forgotten either hours, or even 24+ hours and ocasionally it doesn't seem to hurt). The cache pots are mostly designed for orchids and so have a gap at the bottom for water to drain into if I don't have time to fully drain them.

Once a month(ish) I just run plain water though for a couple of minutes to flush them.

Onc Alliance I've heard do better with water run through the pot instead. This doesn't soak them as much, so they dry out quicker, so you can water more often... and they seem to prefer that. With those I pour water through... with the non-scientific measurement being that each gets the amount of water my watering can holds.

Dens and Paphs get a quicker dunk than Phals, but otherwise similar.

But then as I said to start with, all that get's mixed arround based on time, what pots/watering cans are to hand, and just what I feel like doing at the time

[Ray]

Orchiata is a tough "nut to crack" for water holding.

Before using it, I soak or drench it thoroughly with very hot- to boiling water, then let it cool before using it. That tends to "open up" the structure a bit, allowing it to absorb more fully.

If you have already potted up a plant with it, you obviously cannot use hot water, but soak it thoroughly - either by submerging the pot enough so the bark doesn't float away, or by - my preference - running water through it for about 10-15 minutes. Wait 15-30 minutes and repeat.

After either of those treatment, it ought to absorb pretty well with decent watering.

[Lagoon]

When I use alot of bark I would add boiled water and 1teaspoon of dish soap, swish around & insert bark then soak for about 4hrs - rinse and ready to use.

[tucker85]

I usually water more than once, waiting about 10 minutes between waterings. In the past I have set the pots in water and let them absorb it. But that doesn't flush the pot as well as watering a couple of times in a row.

[orchidman77]

I thought Orchiata was supposed to hold water well from the beginning....??? I just got mine yesterday (thanks ray!!!) and it seems to hold water fairly well...

David