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

[malteseproverb]

I'm a member of a facebook group for general plant enthusiasts local to my city, and I've found that 90% of people writing in about problems with orchids (almost always phals) have been watering with ice cubes, or someone pipes in on how to better water with ice cubes, etc. Where does this strange idea come from? In trying to combat this myth, I've become curious on how it took hold to begin with. No one who does it seems to know why they do it--mainly their mothers advised them to do it this way.

Is it because large phal growers sell their plants in too much potting media and advising costumers to use 1-2 ice cubes per week becomes a way to dose out the smallest bit of moisture so the overpotting only kills the phal within a year or two rather than in a few months? If so it's actually a kind of brilliant marketing scheme... It's long enough that people feel it's their fault they killed it.

[jcec1]

It's definitely a great marketing tactic - 'Just Add Ice' don't market over here and I've never heard of anyone using ice cubes on phals - the practice is unheard of.

Just goes to show how marketing works.

[Leafmite]

I usually work at the 'welcome/membership' table at our orchid show each year and some people swear by the ice-cube method and are very determined that it works. We try to tell them not to do this and we need to finally simply agree as these people get quite offended. Some plants are more susceptible to shock than others and the Phals are tougher than many so it takes a long time for the effects to be evident.
There are many people who buy plants and put them in a very dark spot 'to beautify the room' and then wonder why the plants decline rapidly. Trying to explain to these people why plants need light is exactly the same as explaining why you should not use ice cubes. The photosynthesis explanation goes in one ear and out the other!

[orchidsarefun]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

I usually work at the 'welcome/membership' table at our orchid show each year and some people swear by the ice-cube method and are very determined that it works. We try to tell them not to do this and we need to back down as these people get quite offended. Some plants are more susceptible to shock than others and the Phals are tougher than many so it takes a long time for the effects to be evident.
There are many people who buy plants and put them in a very dark spot 'to beautify the room' and then wondering why the plants decline rapidly. Trying to explain to these people why plants need light is exactly the same as explaining why you should not use ice cubes. The photosynthesis explanation goes in one ear and out the other!

I get exactly the same from people when I work at the sales tables at our shows. I just say that if it works for you, then fine but it's not the 'done thing'. Ironically there are probably more people based on input I receive that do the ' right stuff' but cannot get their orchids to rebloom.
My Maltese proverb is:
"Advice most needed is least heeded"

[bil]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

My Maltese proverb is:
"Advice most needed is least heeded"

Yeah, so true and in so many fields. Someone on here who shall remain nameless took plenty of time to explain to a beginner what they should be doing, only to have the beginner say 'Well I'm going to do X' (which was the exact opposite of what they'd just been advised). Whereupon the advisor said "Well good luck with that" and I knew EXACTLY what they meant.

Been there, done that, got the Tshirt and worn it out.

[Dollythehun]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

I usually work at the 'welcome/membership' table at our orchid show each year and some people swear by the ice-cube method and are very determined that it works. We try to tell them not to do this and we need to back down as these people get quite offended. Some plants are more susceptible to shock than others and the Phals are tougher than many so it takes a long time for the effects to be evident.
There are many people who buy plants and put them in a very dark spot 'to beautify the room' and then wondering why the plants decline rapidly. Trying to explain to these people why plants need light is exactly the same as explaining why you should not use ice cubes. The photosynthesis explanation goes in one ear and out the other!

And this is why I am no longer in the nursery business.

[malteseproverb]

The stubbornness is what gets to me the most. It's irrational on several levels, not least of which that they are asking for advice, but to me it's just not a logical way of caring for the plant no matter if you've had some success. If the ice cube method is to prevent from overwatering a plant that is poorly potted, one should repot, no? One must repot an orchid every 2-3 years anyway, even if well potted. So if you're repotting, might as well do it properly, right? And if that's what you do, then it's certainly not going to get enough water from 2 ice cubes! No matter what you're damning the plant to a slow demise.

[marcmaubert]

It's a little bit marketing, a little bit confirmation bias. You implant an idea using marketing, people take it as a fact, now it's really hard for them to accept it as false. And orchids are really slow to show their discomfort, so that doesn't help either. But I don't blame them, it's really hard to accept that your facts as wrong (been there). Sometimes it takes a dead orchid to really listen to good advice.

[Leafmite]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

And this is why I am no longer in the nursery business.

People can be so stubborn! I am a believer in science. Sometimes I am wrong and I am delighted to be told so, as long as I can have a scientific explanation or evidence.

My experience with using cold water to water plants was not a good one. It was autumn, I had young children, and I was expected to volunteer at the school, when I noticed that my plants really needed watered. I had collected rain water the day before so I rushed outside to get it and then quickly dumped water on all of the plants. The result? I lost an unknown tropical vine (I believe it was a Stephanotis) and all of its cuttings. Some of the other plants dropped leaves.

Some plants can deal with stress better than others but the less stress you give a plant, the better. It is often already stressful for a tropical plant to grow in one's home under our chosen conditions.

[Ray]

OK. I - one of the more "how is it in nature" type of guys - actually have come to see something of a benefit in "just add ice."

• The plants are potted in sphagnum, which, if flooded, can become a root-suffocating mess.
  
• By placing an ice cube on the surface, it will slowly melt, moistening the moss, rather than flooding it, providing moisture to the plant, while not cutting off air flow to the roots.

It works. Face facts. It doesn't appreciably damage the plants, despite all of our (yes, me too) objections.

How many of you have heard of watering standard cymbidiums with ice water to induce blooming? Granted, "in nature" a cymbidium will be exposed to colder temperatures than a phalaenopsis, but so what?

Then, the person who is successful with their icy phal might learn more and start to expand their collection, rather than give up and believe Jon Oliver was correct, and end up being a valuable contributor here.