Justaddice orchids,anyone ever bought any?

[Tim P.]

I love JAI orchids. They are very strong orchids to start with. Just make sure that they haven't been over watered in the store. I have had one with original blooms in full bloom since the end of last october. It just keeps going and going with the right care. As for adding ice, I personally dont do it anymore, but I have and the orchid was just fine. I know many other people who add ice and they have had their orchid for years.

As a side note, the haters will hate ice, but until they try it for themselves they will not know the difference. It may not make sense but it works.

[Nanook 2010]

Originally Posted by Tim P.

I love JAI orchids. They are very strong orchids to start with. Just make sure that they haven't been over watered in the store. I have had one with original blooms in full bloom since the end of last october. It just keeps going and going with the right care. As for adding ice, I personally dont do it anymore, but I have and the orchid was just fine. I know many other people who add ice and they have had their orchid for years.

As a side note, the haters will hate ice, but until they try it for themselves they will not know the difference. It may not make sense but it works.

Ok....major growers put these orchids in moss and then grow them as fast as possible, and then refrigerate them to spike.....

Does anybody who hates the moss have any actuall knowledge if these are grown differently at the wholesale nursery?

Are they grown in bark, and when reach a certain size, jammed in a pot with moss...I don't think so

If you pay attention and don't overwater, why does the majority opinion seem to be to immediately repot after purchase?

Everyone I have ever bought...besides the clearance rack, have big healthy roots

I am going to post an experiment soon where I am going to leave my store bought orchid in its moss and see how it does.

[RosieC]

Moss works for some people... and it works for the nurseries. I use it for some non-phals but can't grow phals in it

A lot of beginners struggle with over watering with it, and so are advised to repot with bark, but it doesn't mean it's always bad.

[MattWoelfsen]

About three years ago, I was watching a program featuring this gardner, P. Allen Smith. He had a segment on his show discussing orchids. He presented orchids as a great way to bring organic pazzas to any room by having an orchid or two in the room. What made me remember this show was that he recommended watering the plants once a week with one or two ice cubes. That caught my attention, so I listened. His next statement was something to the effect that orchids are a very easy plant to grow. He suggested that the orchid plant should be placed in a decorative pot and that a layer of damp sphagnum moss be installed over the root ball, around the roots, and when the sphagnum moss felt dry, just add ice.

I did not do that with my orchids. But it did occur to me that if it really was that easy to grow, with what I perceived was minimal water, maybe I was over watering my plants! As an example, I had a Phalaenopsis plant that had wilted, limp, leaves, I would water the plant, thinking it needed more water. But the opposite was true, it needed to be pulled out of its soggy potting media, dried out and planted in fresh bark. Because of this "just add ice" advice, my orchid plant survival rate has increased dramatically!

I still do not use ice cubes to water my orchids, but I now pay more attention to what the plant tells me: bright, green roots, water not needed. Silver-gray roots and plant seeming to be light weight, water needed. I water my plants in the sink, wetting down the leaves too--I make sure the water is not resting in the plant's crown--as I have found that this causes crown rot.

I own many JustAddIce orchids (20 of them!) . These plants are healthy with beautiful flowers and inexpensive. I hope I don't sound like a cheapskate, but I'm giving theses plants as gifts now, instead of cut flowers.

[Leafmite]

I give these as gifts, too. They are always very well received. The justaddice orchids seem to fare very well in their new homes and when they rebloom, I get thanked again.

[Red Orchid]

I never give cut flowers anymore. Everyone loves the orchids I give them and get hooked on them once they rebloom.

[jesscorine]

A friend of mine asked for advice on her JAI orchid yesterday. She was worried that she hadn't cut the bloom spike, and now there were leaves growing out of the top! LOL I told her that it could be bittersweet because it might be it's last blast of life before it dies. She took a picture of roots and keiki and they both look great! She's excited about the "pregnancy" since she's been having trouble trying for her third child. Lovely story!

btw, she has added ice and just plain water over the year and it's been fine

[Purple_phal_gal13]

Oddly enough most of my first set of orchids were JAI ones. I lost all but 1. They just died. I still till this day cannot find out what happend. I had 14 and they lived for over a year and on year two, one by one they just started to die off. Very strange and I treat mine I have now like did the orginal 14. I currently have 12 orchids: phals, paph, maxillaria, and a few catts.

No outward sign of disease or fungus. Any ideas to the orchid genocide I'm all ears......

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[Red Orchid]

I remember reading about something like that happening before and they learned that their cat had been the culprit. Do you have a cat?

[Purple_phal_gal13]

Sorry it's been a minute, but I don't own a cat and if I did he'd be an official outside cat.

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