How should I water my Phalaenopsis?

[orchiddad]

Hello there! I am new on Orchid Board. Recently, I acquired three Phalaenopsis. One is from a grocery store and the other two are arranged together from my local florist. The ones pictured are from the florist. They are each in their own plastic containers with a hole in the bottom. They are also in moss and the top moss layer is just for decoration. How should I water them? Do I water them and then drain them for an hour? I am new to Orchids and want to give them the best care possible.

[Roberta]

Can't see pictures (I think you have to make 5 posts to be able to upload pictures) But I can imagine... The ones from the florist especially. To water those properly, you'll need, at the very least, to pull them out of the arrangement for watering. Water well (like under the faucet), let the water run through the pot. When through dripping, you can put back into the arrangement if you wish (though you should remove that decorative layer of moss, it will trap too much moisture and dead air) The plants are potted in their individual containers in sphagnum moss. What you need to do depends on what the roots look like (you should be able to see them through the plastic) If they look nice and firm (and green after you water) you don't have to repot immediately. If you see none, or they are brown, they'll need love sooner rather than later. Phals don't mind being repotted when in bloom, so if they need it you can do it and the flowers probably won't even notice.

So if you can show us some photos of the plants outside of the arrangement, there are lots of folks on the forum who can advise further. To get to 5 posts, everything counts.. you can go to the Introduction forum, send out some "Welcome" messages and you're there.

[Irisha99]

For my environment (dry fall,winter and spring- I only started growing orchids in the fall of last year), dunking the pot with the plant in a larger container filled with water seems to be working best. I let it sit there for about 20-30 minutes then I take out the pot and tilt it to the side to let water drip out. I use clear plastic containers to see plant roots better. When the roots look silvery grey I repeat the process. Plants seem to like it, new roots and leaves are growing so I think it works

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Florida summers should be great for Phals. A lot of people near Miami can grow them epiphytically on trees outdoors. They don't much like going below 60 F / 15.5C, but with your warmer winter days, they seem to tolerate it most of the time.

They like bright to medium shade, and warm temperatures. Outdoors for the summer on a shady patio is good for them.

They can be grown very well in moss, but watering is different from watering in other media. You need to keep your orchids in moss separate from your orchids in other media, because they have different watering frequencies.

You don't soak orchids in moss. You just wet the top, then let the water evenly moisten all the moss. This way it stays lightly moist, and retains a lot of air. If you completely soak the moss, the air spaces are obliterated, and the roots may suffocate. Some people let all the moss get crispy dry between waterings, and others don't let it get quite that dry.

I would think during the Florida rainy season you would not be able to grow in moss outside with all the rain, because it would stay too wet. But I don't live there.

You can always take a Phal out of the container to examine the roots. Even repotting in bloom rarely affects the flowers.

There is an excellent thread here on Phal growing in the Beginner forum. From the left yellow menu click on Forums, then Beginners. Near the top look for the sticky thread The Phal abuse ends here.