WATERING AT NIGHT/EVENING

[Chococatte]

Originally Posted by Des

I have never had a problem watering my cymbidiums at night provided the night temperature stays above 15 degrees centigrade. Lower than that and you stand the risk of fungal infections. So if I find it necessary to water on a cool night I water the pot only and try my best not to wet new growths or emerging flower spikes.
This whole question of watering at night has been fascinating to me as there is a lot of misinformation out there on the subject. Plants growing under shade cloth are subject to rain at anytime,day or night. And yet we see so little in the way of fungal and bacterial infections after rain. One has to ask yourself the question , why this is so, just what is the difference between rain water and the water we use on our plants?
After some investigation and experimentation I came to the conclusion that the difference is quite simply dissolved oxygen (O2) in the rain. And further, if that rain is from a thunderstorm then it is possible that the rain contains a tiny amount of hydrogen peroxide. (H2O2) I believe this is possible because of the ozone (O3) generated by the lightning. I have little doubt that this is natures way of keeping pathogens in check in the soil. And this is the reason you will notice plants have a growth spurt after rain
However, what does this all mean for your orchids growing under shade cloth? Rain disinfects your pot plant whereas the tank or tap water is very low in dissolved O2 and won't do the same job. It is for this reason that I have been aerating my nutrient water and adding H2O2 , for some time now , it makes a big difference in the health of my plants

How much of H2O2 do you add to you watering can? Do you do this every watering? How does it help your plants?

[greg sytch]

Des- I have often noticed that no matter how much rain we get, plants rarely rot (tropicals other than orchids etc) so it makes sense...and since it is tropical here most of our summer rains are from storms. If it rains anywhere near evening, all is wet til late the following morning because our humidity is so high. I'm taking into consideration all replies....and keep an eye out. I've rarely seen any crown rot anywhere, keeping fingers crossed of course. But, I grow ALL YEAR under shadecloth. There is no greenhouse, just under cloth in the yard, even in winter. If cold, I place them on the ground and/or cover with frost cloth a few times. So far it works well as we dipped to 28.9F for a brief moment last winter and there was NO damage anywhere, even on my begonias and tropicals. The yard got nipped here and there but it is more exposed in areas...Greg begging for rain as another storm passed by today

[Swamper]

I water grass in the evenings as well as my palms, but I dont water my orchids at night for fear of over watering. When I bought my first orchid a few years ago I watered them so much I nearly drowned them all. I got ticked off one day and tied them to trees and told them you're on your own. They have done very well since then.
As far as the difference between rainwater and tap water. When I had a fish tank (fresh water) I had to get rid of the chlorine or kill my fish, where as rainwater I could collect and add with no problem. I know not all areas have the same amount of chlorine and other hard chemicals? in them so...how do you duplicate rain water is aerating and h2o2 enough? How about well water? My palms like the well water more than the tap water!!! Maybe I should ignore them too and see how they react.

[Des]

Chococatt, I use 14 mils of 50 percent H2O2 per 200 hundred liters .
The benefit to the plants is as follows, it reduces the water bourn Pathogen count , It displaces the chlorine if you are using tap water, And it oxygenates the water . I also add the H2O2 a few hours before I water so that it can do its work
In addition to this I have an aquarium aerator running 24/7 in my 200 liter tank.

[Des]

Swamper , I don't think we will ever be able to duplicate rainwater , but by aerating your water you are at least going part of the way.

[HorseChick]

Greg, I'm in Brandon and I water mine every evening here. I've done it that way for years because my workday starts at 5am.

I've never had a problem with any of mine. They are all mounted and/or hanging.

My Phals are mounted crown side downwards and shed water quite easily.

I will say that I do water them differently once the temps drop. Not as often and as early as I can.

[Jkelee]

Hi Greg, I'm in Orlando. I'm out the door at 4:45am, and I'm not going outback that early! I water my chids hanging outside, under a shade cloth at 5pm 4-5 days, on weekends early morning. And I don't have any problems either.

All of my phals are mounted correctly, sideways/down. If you do that or, have that already, you should be great too As mine love to be outside!

I pulled MANY chids from my greenhouse, and put them under the sky with just the shade cloth, and the LOVE IT So much new growth and new roots like I've never seen!!!

Good luck with your Chids!!