Ice cubes to encourage blooms??
 

A friend of mine is sure she read somewhere about a woman who put ice cubes on her orchids (presumably on top of the potting medium) to encourage her orchids to bloom.

Has anyone heard of this or done this??

I also read that! I just don't remember where it was. The thinking is that a small cold--snap triggers blooming :) What I read was that she used it on her Phals, don't remember her mentioning any others

There are many orchids, especially warm growers, that do not react well to being watered with cold water. It can affect plant health and damage the roots. Dripping water thats just above freezing onto my orchids roots does not sound like a plan im willing to try. it would seem that the entire plant needs to experience the temp difference anyway. Placing ice or very cold water on most orchid leaves is a recipe for disaster. Waiting for mother nature to do her thing takes patience, but worth the wait.

I had a bunch that went through a similar experience with hail and they all puked! So I wouldn't recommend it.

I too had a bad hail experience last spring. They made it thru, but many sulked for months. I also had leaf damage at the impact points of the ice balls.

I think hail would hurt any plant. And ice cubes right on the leaves wouldn't be a good idea, but what about an ice cube on the potting medium?

I just don't think shocks like this are good for any plant. They don't experience this in nature, so why do it in your own environment. Can't see where ice that is not in direct contact with the plant would have any effect all. Now cooler temps, maybe :scratchhead:

I have my orchids next to a window. They get plenty of tempature change as I live in chicago

I put my Phals outside on my screened porch in the early summer and do not bring them back in the house until it hits 45 degrees. The change in temprature does help them to start thinking about blooming. Usually they start to bloom in Jan. I have had a lot of success with this method, but have never tried the ice cubes.

I've heard this method being used on cymbidiums here in Florida to get them to bloom.

I as well have heard of the ice cubes doing the trick act for blooming orchids, but not a formula which is highly recommended. It does not make any sense to take an orchid and try to reproduce what nature does in it's own due time. How many rapid (quickly come and go) cold snaps do we have in the fall/winter time...none. Accelerating cold at natures pace is the trick, you allow the plants to acclimate slowly which will produce some awesome blooms. I personally do not like my feet to be cold :evil: and chances are your orchids are along the same line.

Khyro ... would like to :welcome: you to the OB, please take a few minutes and go to the "Break the Ice" thread and introduce yourself :banana:

I have heard of using ice cubes on Cymbidiums , Never tried it . Gin

And I've heard the opposite--if you'll shower your orchids with warm water once a week they grow well; however, it does not induce spiking. I tried this method on my cattleya and after a few days I noticed a new growth! Coincidence?

It depends on the plants!

Like Terry, I have heard of cymbidium growers doing that if they are in a climate that does not offer sufficient day/night temperature variation.

Switching gears to the "warm shower" thing, it's all dependent upon the overall temperatures the plant sees, and the only studies I'm aware of are with phalaenopsis.

In phals, warm conditions lead to better growth rate, but somewhat cooler conditions are required for blooming. Dr. Yin-Tung Wang of Texas A&M has published some good work on that very subject. What is interesting to me about it is that phals apparently can "average" the conditions they see, which explains why a plant given several weeks of a day/night temperature drop will still initiate a spike, even though it sees the same warm daytime conditions.

What is the lowest temperature orchids can tolerate? I wonder if I can put my phals on the deck now for temps changes at night to initiate spiking... It's been a while since blooming.

Here's a copy of the AOS Culture Sheet for Phals. The temp requirements are listed along with other important info. Hope it helps :D

http://orchidweb.org/aos/uploadedfil...lturephals.pdf

cb977, thanks!

Here in Franca, they recommend ice cubes on the medium to get cimbidiums to flower. They need consistent below 50 degree nights to initiate. I've never tried it, and some years they bloom anyway.

Wow, quite a variation in opinions!! Thanks for sharing :)