How much water do you use everytime you water an orchid?

[Swamper]

Vodka? I wanna be your orchid.

[RosieC]

I was wondering about the vodka as well!!

I think I'm going to start trying this way. Certainly seems it would save on fertiliser.

[Hedge]

I use a crystalline form of fertilizer, and it's about a teaspoon to half a gallon of water - with thirty plants it takes about a year to use a pot and it costs less than £3 a pot - so I shall continue immersing for the time being. My plants are happy, so I don't want to rock the boat. I probably use a quart per 4 inch pot and smaller. I use a mixture of tap water and rainwater and I admit to reusing water from one plant to another (naughty, I know) to keep water consumption down when the rainwater is exhausted.

[Becky Jo]

Being new at growing I just let water run through for about a minute and then I squirt my mixture on them. Vodka?????

[jrodpad]

I admit, I'm a bit of a water hog when I water my orchids. I've stopped watering the lawn altogether though, so I'm probably saving water on balance.

I mix heavy 1/4 tsp of crystalline fertilizer (20-20-20) with about 1 gallon of water. I water with a plain old watering can (from Ikea) and let the water run out the bottom for 5-10 seconds. I then give the leaves a misting with a really fine spray of just water.

I like the vodka idea.... one for you... one for me... one for you... two for me. Watering the orchids was never so fun!

If you use absolut vanilla, is it cannibalism?!!!

- J

	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

[Ray]

I use the "fire hose" technique when watering, and completely flood all plants with fertilizer solution, much like Maria. I probably go through 50-75 gallons of solution per watering, but it's not all THAT expensive.

There are ways to keep the costs down, such as using a powdered fertilizer, rather than a liquid.

One brand of MSU liquid calls for one ounce per gallon. At $9.75/quart, each gallon of fertilizer solution costs $0.305. Another brand of MSU liquid calls for 2 teaspoons per gallon, so at $8/quart, each gallon of solution costs only $0.088. Use a powder instead (I'll use my own price) and you get over 360 gallons of solution for $10, making that $0.0275 per gallon. Shipping powders is a lot less expensive, too.

[Ray]

It seems to me that watering first, followed by the application of fertilizer leads to less absorption by the plant.

Think of the velamen as a sponge. Dip a dry sponge in fertilizer solution, and it absorbs 100% fertilizer solution. Dip it in water first, then into fertilizer solution and it will be mostly saturated with water, absorbing very little of the fertilizer.

That, by the way, was common practice back when plants were typically fed monthly using VERY strong fertilizer solutions, and it kept the plants from being "burned".

[Beverly]

I want to know about the vodka too? Is it for killing bugs?

[Swamper]

Originally Posted by jrodpad

I like the vodka idea.... one for you... one for me... one for you... two for me. Watering the orchids was never so fun!

If you use absolut vanilla, is it cannibalism?!!!

- J

one fo yo tree fo meee

[CTB]

Anyone wanting to know about Vodka, (google) vodka and orchids and it works! hiccup, hiccup, hiccup!