watering your orchids

[anneliebrewer]

I recently purchased another orchid - the instructions said to put ice cubes in to water? Is this a good way and if it is how often do you do this? Thanks

[cbuchman]

This was discussed on this board before. Check out this thread Ice cube watering

[tucker85]

It's not totally without merit. Most experienced orchid growers use a coarse orchid medium and water very well and then let the medium dry out almost completely before watering again. But newly purchased orchids are often in sphagnum moss. I recently read that in Thailand, where they commercially grow a lot of our orchids, they use sphagnum exclusively and when they water, they don't soak the medium but rather give a small dose of water that will wick down through the moss without getting too wet. I have no experience with this method but it's probably where the idea of ice cube watering came from.

[Bud]

Jeff is right....but then again the ice cube orchids from the USA comes in coarse bark not sphagnum....the ice cubes wont work....
the orchids dont like the cold, they are tropical warm loving plants....dont be lazy: put the plant under the sink and douse it til its dripping wet once a week....three ice cubes a day just wont cut it

[The Orchid Boy]

Someone that I know watered their phalaenopsis with ice cubes and it stressed the plant and it grew a terminal spike and produced 1 keiki on the stem and 2 basal keikis. The mother plant died from overwatering and cold stress on the roots but I was able to save all the keikis. The orchid was planted in bark.

[Phalchid]

When the ice cube orchids came to the big box stores a few years ago, I blindly followed their instructions and lost most of my phals that were doing well until then I, for one, will never ever use ice cubes again!

[anneliebrewer]

thank you for your help

[RosieC]

I know some people here have said they have had success with the method because it gives a measured dose of water and you can't overwater. But for others the cold has stressed the plant and/or it's just not been enough water. I think it depends on your enviroment, I wouldn't do it myself here in the cold UK watering with luke warm water is better here.

You said you purchased 'another' orchid, so if you have grown others in the past successfully I would say continue doing what you did with that/those. It's a gimmick even if it does work for some.