Just Add Ice

[Fishkeeper]

No, no, carbon freezing is carbon, not ice. The poor things will die of dehydration. Same with dry ice, it's not water. And liquid nitrogen will over-fertilize them! Stick to plain old ice made of water, but make sure it's small cubes so there's plenty of ventilation. If you have more sensitive species, be sure you rig a computer fan in the freezer to circulate the air.

[Bulbopedilum]

If you want to give the best ventilation for your plants you should try liquid/frozen oxygen. It's oxygen! Making solid oxygen is easy, just get the temperature down to −219 °C, or −362 °F. Piece of cake!

[estación seca]

My supermarket is out of liquid oxygen, and I don't like dangerous chemicals in my house. Is there a safe, natural alternative to liquid oxygen? Oh, and it needs to be organic.

[Bulbopedilum]

Originally Posted by "estación seca

My supermarket is out of liquid oxygen, and I don't like dangerous chemicals in my house. Is there a safe, natural alternative to liquid oxygen? Oh, and it needs to be organic.

Well, you can make liquid oxygen from liquid nitrogen, but that's not organic. I suggest you try methane. It's 100% organic gas. You'll need to get it down to -182°C to freeze it. Methane is regularly available from your local ranch (Make sure it has cows).

If you still consider that dangerous, you can always try cryogenicaly freezing your orchid down to Absolute Zero to make sure it stays ok for milleniums to come, as long as your system doesn't break. Another way to preserve the orchid is through amber. Just trap your orchid in it. If you want to get your orchid back simply extract DNA and wait until 3D Bio-printing comes.

[Cheddarbob14]

Great laughs this am, thanks everyone. I got here too late, Ray beat me to the "no you all have it wrong, use dry ice" line. I'm going for a different approach, you all still have it wrong. Lots of orchids don't like wet feet, so I recommend avoiding all ice. I'm going to stuff my orchids into a dehydrator, that way I'm not going to experience root rot like all of you. The salt will help with the dehydration process, adds flavor too. Please support my new business venture by visiting jerkyorchids dot com

[Bulbopedilum]

If you are drying your orchid roots then I suggest pumping lots of water into the pseudobulbs first. Orchids do not like to be too dry or too wet. They like to be moist. This is why I also suggest putting cake dough on the roots to keep it moist. Do you think orchake(dot)com will be a success?

[greenpassion]

You guys are great! I'm working a long boring double shift at the crazy house, and sitting here reading this stuff has me actually laughing, something unheard of around here! Love the Orchidcicle idea

[Cheddarbob14]

Originally Posted by Bulbopedilum

If you are drying your orchid roots then I suggest pumping lots of water into the pseudobulbs first. Orchids do not like to be too dry or too wet. They like to be moist. This is why I also suggest putting cake dough on the roots to keep it moist. Do you think orchake(dot)com will be a success?

I like where your heads at, gonna take it a step further. Forget the water, I'm gonna have my orchids get back in touch with their origins. Orchids native to Mexico get pseudobulbs pumped with margaritas, Brazilians get to fatten up on caipirinhas, etc

[Arizona Jeanie]

I only have a few plants, but I like to try different ways of growing them and see what works best. It's pretty hot and dry where I live, so I have a question for you experts: do you think I could just mount one on a block of ice? This might be closer to the natural environment where they grow in the upper reaches of the Himalayas. Maybe just use the dry ice when it's time to chill them in the Fall? I do like to keep it organic as much as possible, I like the idea of using organic ice for this project. It's hard to find locally, maybe I can find some online and have it shipped.

[rtbaum]

Here in Minnesota, we just bungee them to our snowmobiles. They love 40 below at 60 mph.....look darn festive as well!!