How do you water your indoor orchids?

[ddivey36]

I have 3 of those black shelves and my husband has fixed me up a rain barrel - I am more than positive that he can do those shelves and drain to bucket set up like Katrina...that is a sweet setup....

Currently I take each to the sink/tub and water with my rain water ( I use old milk and juice jugs and fill them up , take inside and let get to room temp, add the fert...) - we have had 3 weeks of below freezing and I have had to use well water from the faucet.

I let the orchids vacation outside on my covered porch in the spring summer fall, but with Katrina's drain-shelf setup , it will make my watering life much easier inside and outside...

my husband will be all over that idea as currently I "drip" from room to room (on carpet )

[snowflake311]

once a week they all go for a bath in the sink. But during the week I just lightly water with a watering can . I can't wait to keep some outside it will make watering very easy.

[tarev]

My collection is small so during winter one by one to the sink every week.

During warmer months, they are in my growcamp, there I can water them freely sometimes 2 to 3 times a week depending how hot and dry we are getting into. With Oncidiums, I sometimes let them sit in water for about a day once a week, they like that a lot especially on the hotter months..so thirsty.

Phals stay indoors so I adjust watering frequency, once a week during warmer months, during the colder months can go on longer interval like 8 days before I water again.

[Roey.P.]

I go to my bathroom and put them on in the bath water with the spray head untill water are driping from the bottom hole. Then i leave it on a net at the top of the bath and use pepper towels to dry leafs.

[hanzy08]

I have about 30 plants and watering in the sink or dunking them is too much work and time so I bought a spraying can i think is what it is called. it is usually used to spray chemicals and you can control the water pressure from stream to spray. the pressure is manually done by pumping several times 'til there's enough pressure for a gallon and i just hose each plant and I'm done in 5 mins! lol but I have to clean up afterwards...

[katrina]

Originally Posted by No-Pro-mwa

Oh, nice kitty is helping, NOT!

That's quiet a system. I think I would be to lazy to break them down. I take them all to the sink and it takes me a loooooong time. I have to quit buying new orchids. And yes mine are in the house year round. I haven't tried any outside even in the summer. Not sure how that would work with my wind.

That kitty (Newby) loves to watch and the other one (Toby) likes licking the happy sap on leaves and buds.

The pics only show a small portion of the overall room...all said and done 300+ orchids plus numerous other plants so my old way of watering was so time consuming that the time it takes me to break down and put this stuff away seems like nothing. Plus, I can not stand clutter or mess or having to move things to get to something else so, really, tearing down and putting everything "away" isn't a bit deal for me.

Originally Posted by emg53

Wow Katina, that is some setup.

Thanks! It took a few years for me to get to this point...lots of trial and error. I was really getting burned out on all the time watering/fert during the 8+months the orchids are inside and that burn out was a good impetus for invention/ideas. And thankfully I have a hubby that is more than happy to help me do whatever needs to be done with or for the orchids. I'll have to post some pics of what he's built for me in their various summer spots. He's quite the handy man!

Originally Posted by ddivey36

I have 3 of those black shelves and my husband has fixed me up a rain barrel - I am more than positive that he can do those shelves and drain to bucket set up like Katrina...that is a sweet setup....



my husband will be all over that idea as currently I "drip" from room to room (on carpet )

Thanks! Glad you like it and happy that it gave you some ideas. It wasn't difficult...sounds like your hubby is handy too so I'm sure he'll have no problems at all.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I wish I could invest the $ and space for a system like Katrina's, it's the way to go. My plants, when indoors (typically October-ish to April-ish), live on shelves sitting on drip trays under fluorescent lights. Mostly, they are watered with rain water applied with a pump sprayer until water comes out of the bottom of each pot. Periodically, the plants go to the shower for a more thorough rinse.

I would avoid any watering plan that soaks multiple plants in the same water. It's a potential pathway for spreading diseases or pests.

[bil]

I just use a 5 litre spray, and while I'm watering them I wash the leaves. I use RO water, so I don't worry about salt buildup..

[Catriona]

Hi, I need to water mine (approx 20) in kitchen sink, splitting the job over 2 nights. Put a little fertiliser in jug & add about a litre of water, which I run through each plant slowly. About twice a week I'll spray arial roots w/tap water. They are inside year round.

[ALToronto]

Step 1: pot them up so that if they sit in water, they won't get damaged. This means big chunks of lava rock, styrofoam peanuts or regular rocks at the bottom of the pots. Rocks keep the pots more stable, too. The actual potting mix doesn't start until at least 5 cm from the bottom.

Step 2: place the pots in shallow trays. I hate individual saucers, mine all share the runoff water. I keep things very, very clean, and regularly spray the plants and the trays with sulphur.

Step 3: get a pump-up sprayer with a long wand, adjust the spray head to a fine stream and precision water each pot. For mounted plants you need to get a waterproof back and a catch basin at the bottom.