How do you water a large collection efficiently?

[Roberta]

That's also when I learned that light duration was important for blooming Phals, hence the lights 12 hours a day. The east light coming in the window was good maybe 4-5 hours a day and then became very indirect, those lights made a huge difference in blooming success. When the addiction strikes, one improvises...

[SundayGardener]

This is a tangent question. I also spend almost an entire day a week watering, bringing each orchid to the sink and using the opportunity to inspect and maintain.

I do use a spray bottle sparingly on other days. However, when I do the "big water," I use a lot of water to flush out the pots. There are a few orchids that I soak briefly. I use a water pitcher and control the amount to match the plant's size and media.

The question is this. No matter how airy the pot (excluding plastic net pots with a generous net size), with airy media (large chunk or rock) water does accumulate in the center of the pot and on the flat bottoms of pots. Even if the bottom has a lot of holes. I don't know the right term for this, I always "dandy" or move the pots up and down to shake out the pooled water at the bottom (and quite a bit comes out). I also tip them to one side which also helps.

Semi-hydro did not work well for my environment. Do those of you who are not semi-hydro, water on-site and drain water off from trays, water more sparingly, or less frequently? I have searched long and hard for cone-shaped pots (plastic or ceramic, I know there are some in unfired clay--doesn't work for me). I think my ideal would be to have everything in a cone and hanging for great air flow and drainage.

[SADE2020]

I have like Roberta had, a green-room here and there in the house during the winter and in summer a shad it terrace as a greenhouse. But, I still water Phalaenopsis in old fashion way, in their own pot holder and let it soak for 30min.. and then take the water out. This takes some time.

All the other plants are seatted in plates with expanded clay to dain (not potted) and I water them with a 5 gallon sprayer. This fast and quick.

I am impressed with all the setups I've seen. You are all masters. Lovely!

[SADE2020]

Originally Posted by Roberta

When I first got into orchids, I took the spare bedroom and turned it into a "greenhouse" .. green room? So more than a windowsill... but I just put sheets of egg crate (light diffuser with holes) over plastic bins that were big enough to hold quite a bit of water. It just evaporated - so helped raise humidity. Here is what it looked like...
http://orchidcentral.org/GrowingAreas/indoor.jpg

@roberts ..I would like to know how those shelfs are call ?? What type ??

[Roberta]

I was just using alluminum folding tables (about 2 m, 6 ft each) The plastic bins and the "egg crate" light diffuser (the white plastic grids) came from a big-box home-improvement store. The lights were the cheapest fluorescent shop lights that I could find , and the stands to hold the lights were made out of PVC pipe (also from the home-improvement store). So put together from bits and pieces of things that were designed for other purposes. (I have spent a lot of time, and significant amount of money, at Home Depot)

[SouthPark]

If there's a few hundred orchids, then it sounds like orchid nursery type methods might help - like platforms with grills that allow water to fall through - either onto the floor ---- or onto catching areas that then drain water away. Automatic sprinkling systems maybe - but also knowing some orchids can have issues with water getting caught up in pockets between leaves and crown etc.

The nurseries generally have big industrial type fans that move air around too.

Getting that sort of setup for indoor (home) could be a challenge. But just depends on how far we can or need to go.