Holiday Orchid Survival Guide

[theanalyst]

My guess is that I am not the only person traveling for the holidays. So how do you keep your orchids alive while away?

I read some old threads here and on other forums, and come across conflicting information. For example, some suggest soaking orchids everyday for a couple days before leaving. While others say not to because it could inhibit air circulation. So what are your best tips?

I have seven orchids at home, all within an indoor greenhouse. Given that I live in Upstate NY, it is cold so I leave the heat on (my cats stay at home), which can dry the air. The potted orchids, I can water once before leaving and they are usually okay for the week. I have two mounted and those I soak before leaving and then put a terrarium top (purchased years ago, similar to a cloche) over them for the week.

My bigger concern is the two orchids at my office. In the summer, I have off mid-June through mid-August. The phal actually survived 2 weeks at a time without water, since the AC was off much of the time and it would get pretty humid in my off. But now, with the dry heat running while I'm gone from work for 2 weeks, I'm thinking about what options I have this time around. Plus, I now have an oncidium (plus the phal).

What are your vacation orchid survival guide tips?

[Optimist]

I've read about people who fill a bathtub with water and place the orchids around the tub. I assume behind the drawn plastic curtain or glass division making as much of a green house environment as possible. I suppose if you placed wire or wood shelves across the filled bathtub that would be where the orchids stayed. I wonder if they could be suspended above the tub on wire?

Maybe bring your work orchids home to join the bunch for 2 weeks?

[MattWoelfsen]

My orchids live in my master bathroom tub. I have wooden planks across the top of the tub and have shelves above the tub where I have my plants growing. I have water basins underneath the shelves and they provide a lot of humidity. I was going to put a plastic liner in front of this alcove to enclose it but then I couldn't safely run the fan circulating the air. I'm thinking of running a mister so that additional humidity is provided but after measuring relative humidity, I did not need to do that.

[theanalyst]

I've never heard of these bathtub approaches. Thanks for sharing. I didn't bring the oncidium home because my cat always tries to eat it, which is why it went to my office. 😼

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[WeirdGuySeattle]

have the coworkers water once each Wed (enough for even a lazy coworker like me to be able to successfully accomplish, and not too much so as to kill your plants).

the ones at the house, I'd just leave in a pebble tray of water, maybe let their feet soak (barely) where the puddle dries out by week two. The mounts should soak too - maybe not the plant, but the moss...

Just some thoughts - going away is tough. IN summer I leave a sprinkler on with a timer to go off for 10 minutes each day at around noon. Winter I probably wouldn't do it - requires leaving the doors slightly open to let the hose in..

[NYCorchidman]

I do not travel around Christmas, but I do in the summer or fall.

I think winter can be easier to deal with because many plants are not actively growing.
I don't think one week of neglect would be a big problem.

I was gone for two weeks in the fall when the weather was still quite warm (and my apartment can get hot due to the sunlight coming in through large windows).

Here is what I did.

The night before I left, I soaked all my orchids really good.

For moisture loving ones like lady slippers, I left a little bit of water at the saucer. like half an inch or less.

For orchids sitting right up against the window, I moved them a few feet away from the window, or placed a couple layers of newspaper over them to protect them from the sun.

When I returned, only a few were suffering slight dehydration including my lady slippers in bloom.