Why on earth do people water their phals with ice cubes?

[greenpassion]

Originally Posted by jkofferdahl

Since the main selling point of the process, per Ray's interpretation, is to avoid overwatering a plant potted in sphagnum, I would say that it makes more sense to learn to water carefully - or to repot the plant into bark.

I would think that people would be more inclined to overwater more often than not using straight moss. I know I did in the beginning.

[bil]

Originally Posted by greenpassion

I would think that people would be more inclined to overwater more often than not using straight moss. I know I did in the beginning.

Well, it's one of the reasons I always advise beginners to use coarse bark. IMO you need real experience to grow phals in moss, and that's something a beginner simply doesn't have.

[SG in CR]

I encountered the same belief with my sister years ago. She kept buying cheap Home Depot Phals and the directions on the tag said to water them with ice cubes. It's a great marketing tactic. The orchid remains alive for a while but eventually suffers and dies. Then you buy a new one.
Well, my sister gave me a couple that were looking pretty close to dead. After about a year they were blooming again. Only then did she believe me that the ice cubes weren't a good idea.
My method for watering phals back when I lived in colder climates was to give each pot a 10 minute soak in a bucket of half tap water/half distilled water with a little bit of liquid orchid fertilizer every week. Then just leave them in the shower to drain before putting them back on the window sill, where they would get an occasional misting.

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[jkofferdahl]

I have a lot of Phals growing in sphagnum, and doing exceedingly well. In fact, I would say that those in sphagnum are doing better than the ones in bark. However, each is potted in a very open basket pot so that they get plenty of air and dry out in 2 to 3 days. In regular pots, sphagnum will retain too much water and block too much air, so that a beginner is almost sure to over-water.

IN my opinion, it's vital to focus on the root health when an orchid is in sphagnum and a typical pot, or especially if potted in the thin, clear plastic grow pots Phals are often sold in. Sure, the amount of water found in two ice cubes per week is likely adequate, it's still problematic. First, you're putting ice onto a tropical plant, which to me simply makes no sense. Second, if the amount of water is adequate, it's barely so. Third, with this method, unless you make ice cubes with fertilizer the plant won't get fertilizer! And finally, the pot is never flushed, so it will build up deposits of salts and minerals in the tap water.

Nope. Not for me.

[greenpassion]

You make a good point about the pot never getting flushed, and having them in lose airy moss makes sense.

[malteseproverb]

Ray, I posited in my initial post that the ice cube method was a way to compensate for the way mass market phals are potted--with too much sphagnum--and that in that sense it's a pretty brilliant way to extend the life of the plant to where it can survive for perhaps a few years without repotting (if you're lucky). And since repotting is probably too much work for many, I can see how "just add ice" is a great intro to phal growing. However, I agree with Jake in that it seems to me that you'd still be depriving the plant of things that could make it thrive. Most of these mass market phals are also in potted in liners and put into pots without holes, so airflow is lacking, likewise because of all that sphagnum. You're not fertilizing or flushing or changing the media every 2 years, and I've seen the top roots of these plants--they're often blackened. So ultimately, these growers are just developing a bad habit that often prevents them from learning a more sustainable method. Prevents because, I believe, just-add-ice can keep the plant alive for just long enough that it kind of seems like bad luck when it finally dies, not a fault in the watering method or potting media.

On the same group I mentioned, I saw someone advise a just add ice grower to never use ice, but water with a shot glass once a week instead. I thought that was kind of funny. Maybe that will be the new marketing scheme to appeal to all us lushes!

[greenpassion]

How do you guys know each other's first names? Sorry. Way off topic.

[estación seca]

Ray's username is Ray. Some people put their name in their signature line. Others put their name in their introductory post. And some use their name in private messages.

[malteseproverb]

That's funny! I read jkofferdahl as jakeofferdahl. My brain interpolated some nonexistent vowels.

[greenpassion]

Oh. Okay.