Unbelievable!! How NOT to water a precious orchid!!

[Skayc1]

My first orchid was one it said to water with Ice, It seems to be doing well this way, I would be interested in other ways to safely water my phals, without overwatering them. I just recently got three more orchids from lowes clearance rack & will be trying to rescue them...

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by Skayc1

My first orchid was one it said to water with Ice, It seems to be doing well this way, I would be interested in other ways to safely water my phals, without overwatering them. I just recently got three more orchids from lowes clearance rack & will be trying to rescue them...

I water by either soaking up to the top of the pot in water, or by running water through the pot. BUT the key point with both these methods is that the plant should not be left standing in water long term and should dry between waterings.

So if soaking I leave them about 15min (though they can actually take a couple of hours with no problem), then drain thoroughly making sure the pot is not left standing in drips. Same with the method of running water through, make sure it is not left standing in the drips. I then leave them to dry until the roots down in the bottom of the pot turn silvery to know they are dry before doing the same again.

As well as the method of the roots changing colour to tell if they need watering you can use the 'skewer method' where you put a wooden skewer in the pot and see if it is damp when pulled out (search for 'skewer method' in the forum for more info on that) or as you get more experienced you can tell when it needs watering from the weight of the pot, but I think that method needs a bit of experience, at least I struggled with that method for the first couple of years.

[The Orchid Boy]

I have never seen success with "just add ice". If you have had success with this method for a long period of time (at least a year & have gotted orchids to rebloom) please let me know, I want to here about it.

A friend got a "Just Add Ice" orchid and gave it 3 ice cubes a week. It made a terminal spike with 1 bloom and 3 keikis and the mother plant died. She gave it to me.

I gave an 2 orchids (phals) to a relative over the winter, she didn't add ice but used very cold water from an outside faucet. The first one was in bud and it quickly blasted all its buds and the spike dried up and it lost a leaf that it shouldn't have. The second one started a terminal spike and started to form buds, the first few buds blasted while still small. I figured out the problem and now it has a few nice blooms on it.

Another more experienced friend who doesn't usually water with ice was going on vacation for a a little over a week and was concerned about her phal in bud. Right before she left, she piled ice onto the potting media. When she got back, all the buds were lying on the table.

Just wanted to let you all know and any beginners who may read this: "Just add ice" did not work for these people.

I water my orchids by pouring lots of water through the pot to flush out any bad stuff. When it rains in the wild it does a similar thing. "You can never water an orchid too much, but you can water an orchid too often." That means that you can water an orchid say a gallon of water, but the media will only hold so much, you should wait until the media dries out or almost dries out before watering again. It's easier to overwater than to underwater, remember most orchids are air plants.

[quiltergal]

Phals are warm to hot growers that live in tropical rainforests. Ask yourself how often it rains ice water in a tropical rainforest. While the just add ice method may keep the orchid alive I can't imagine it will thrive and rebloom. How does one fertilize with ice?

Personally I think it is just a gimmick to get people who can't be bothered to learn proper culture to buy an orchid. There's nothing wrong with the JAI plants themselves. IF I were to buy one I certainly would not treat it as recommended.

[flexdc]

Thank you all!!
Yes just add ice is a gimmick form those who think flushing their plants in the sink is too much work!

[Skayc1]

I froze the liquid orchid food last month to water it.
I never knew any other way to water it-

It's not rebloomed yet, but has grown a new leaf-& gotten bigger-


The roots look good to me-


I am willing to try soaking my orchids though, or even running it under the faucet for 15 min, I have bad water with rust in it, I use ice chips from a bag of Ice I buy. other than the liquid plant food, I used my mom's water for that. It's city water (might have chloride in it like some city waters do...

[The Orchid Boy]

So it's pure frozen fertilizer, not diluted and mixed in water? That may burn roots pretty bad. You can use certain filters or buffers or let water sit out to get chloride out of the water...

[Skayc1]

I have the powder orchid food, so of course it's mixed with water...

---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:59 PM ----------

How do you recommend feeding the orchid? how much & what strength- such as weakly weekly or once a month using the ratio the pkg recommends?

[AnonYMouse]

Originally Posted by Skayc1

How do you recommend feeding the orchid? how much & what strength- such as weakly weekly or once a month using the ratio the pkg recommends?

Go read the info at firstrays. Lots of good info on plant nutrition.

Back to the topic.
I've not encountered these JAI orchids nor do I use this method but as a chronic over-waterer, I think I understand the thinking behind it. Think of it as "slow release" watering of sphag packed pots. The sphag will act as insulation while the ice melts and 3 ice cubes will not completely saturate the sphag.

[NYCorchidman]

That looks like an employee just poured in lots of water in it without thinking much.

The bib box stores usually water plants by taking them all on the same plastic tray filled with water and let plants sit in it for a while. Then they take the plants back to the previous position.

So either way, they are sharing diseases, or watered to death or dried to death.

I really couldn't buy phals after seeing how they were having communal bath. lol