Watering Cym. at night

[cabbo]

I try to water everything early in the morning. But during the week its hard to water my giant cym at 5:00 am before I leave for work. Does anyone see any problem with watering at night? Thanks for any input.

[Bobfharris]

Slugs!!!

[smweaver]

Chris, although you'll often hear (or read) experts say that orchids should never be watered during the evening, for fear of encouraging bacterial and/or fungal infections, in nature they frequently get rained on during the evening, and somehow the species continue to survive in spite of this perceived calamity. Much depends on the time of the year and the plant's growing cycles. If your plant is actively growing and needs water, then go ahead and water it, regardless of the time of day. As far as cymbidiums go, mine get watered whenever I notice that they need a drink. They do get watered far less in the winter when only the spikes are growing, and I too try to make sure this activity takes place in the morning. But if I get home from work late at night and that's the only time of the day I've had to water them, then that's when the watering takes place. If you don't have one already, you might want to invest in a small oscillating fan to put in the room with your plants. Leave it running twenty-four hours a day at low speed and when you water try to keep any moisture out of any new growing leads, and your cymbidium should be fine. I'm assuming that, being in NJ, it's in the house and not out on a porch or deck at this time of year. If you've got it growing in a truly cold location where the temperature drops significantly at night, then it becomes more important to keep the plant relatively (but not completely) dry. I think that it's the combination of cold temperatures and soggy roots that can lead to problems. Good luck with your plant.

Steve

[orchids3]

In cooler weather I try to have mine dry by dark but as it warms I run a mister for 2 min in the morning and 2 just at night fall. Actually it usually rains in this part of Florida between 5 and 7 pm from June to October - how could I get the plants dry by dark? Cymbidiums seem to do their best growing during this time of the year. Do not seem to have problems from this. During Huricane seasons in the past I had a lot of soft growth during a two week period when it didn stop raining and the plants didnt really get enough sun. I use a little fungicide as soon as it gets dry enough after long periods of heavy rain.

[Weebl]

watering at night also simulates cooler nights due to evaporative cooling, so it's a big help when trying to bloom Cymbidiums in climates with warmer night temps.

My cymbidiums, which are exposed as can be outdoors, frequently get rained on then the sky will clear and temps drop into the 30s. I've not had problems with vegetation rot, just the flowers

[cabbo]

Thanks so much to eveyone for the feedback.

[orchids3]

Yes its best to have the plants on the dry side when temperatures really drop but those of us grow our cym. exposed to the weather know we cant always have our way.
Agree that the night mist helps cool the plants in warm climates - thats why I water with the misting system just at dark.

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials