Ice cubes for phals

[gamistriotis]

I just read that you can water orchids by putting 3-4 ice cubes on the medium once a week. Could it work?


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[Kelo]

Put it this way, I've never been in a tropical forest that had ice cubes in it.

[Otis226]

Ditto. Ice to Phals is like kryptonite to you know who!
Tony

[gamistriotis]

Hehe! Guess so!!!


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[flhiker]

I've done it and it works but it's easier just to water it. I know most reject this method but the Idea behind it is it allows more time for the plant to take up the water slowly with out over watering. The reason most people have trouble with Phal's is over watering. And this method does prevent that.

[gamistriotis]

Interesting.


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[PaphMadMan]

The real problem with this is that plants can end up being drastically under-watered most of the time, but still be over-watered in cool cloudy weather. Doing the same thing every week all year just isn't going to work in most environments. I'd only worry about the cold water aspect if the plants are already stressed by cold wet conditions. It might even be a good thing for cool growing species when it is hot.

[Angurek]

My concern with this method is the shock it could give the plant. Phals are tropical warm growers and, as someone already said, they aren't used to having cold, frosty things around their roots. If you give your plant ice cubes, you run the risk of sending it into shock and killing it.

[Fernando]

Oh,
it works!!! For the vendor of ice-cubes, and of Phalaenopsis.
And as orchids - phals as well - die slowly, you can blame everything to be the reason for it.

Or put it this way:
If you don't want to CARE for a pet or a plant and prefer a recipe rather then looking after their NEEDS,
then it works for the time it flowers or grows up.

After flowering just throw it away and get a new one.

But if you want to grow a plant and raise it and get it big and to flower again - than: it does not work!
There are even people who let the water get room temperature before using it!
That does really work.

With best wishes for your plants

Fer

[sii]

I lost my initial orchids using this method until I learned what worked.

When I water my orchids I let the water from the tap warm up before watering. Seems to work.