Have you ever tried the Ice method? Or just gut feelings? I have and it works. I even made tray's with fertilizer in it. After awhile of doing this I realized it was taking me longer then if I just watered them. That is the only reason I don't use it anymore. NO shock to the plant No damage of any kind. I have around 20 phals and the ONLY time I have ever killed one is with traditional water methods. watering when the surface was dry and thinking it needed water when it really didn't and getting water in the crown from to much rain as I grow all my Chids outside. And for the most part my Phals are in excellent shape.

Don't forget the Hybrid Phals you get at home depot Never lived in the wild.

I must admit Fer that that was a bit intense as a response.

Flhiker the way you describe it, it makes sense. I am guessing especially if the cubes are made in the fridge after being filtered by the cooler's built in water filter, leaving all the nasties in there. I quess I'll give it a shot. By the way, do you find it easy to grow them outdoors? I live in greece with quite a few temperature extremes- too hot or freezing. Any tips?


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I find it easier to grow outdoor because I live in the sub-tropics. I would imagine that it will be much different for you in Greece.Filter water in my opinion is always better. I don't recommend using ice because of the work involved, not because it's bad for the plant. Good luck with what ever method you choose. If you do use ice I would love to hear your results.

I guess the best thing I could do for my phals was taking them outdoors. They are in a frenzy of growth. New leaves and roots out of nowhere. Although I must admit that during the first week when I didn't realize the increased needs in watering, I almost lost them. But they seem to be back on track now. Tomorrow I am planning to repot them into bigger pots and I guess next week I'll be moving them indoors because the weather is starting to get a bit chilly.

that's true. although no longer alive because of an erwinia brown rot infection, i managed to keep a couple of miltoniopsis alive during our hot summers by placing ice cubes on the medium. of course i avoided touching the plant and roots and placed them as far on the edge as possible but it doues help with cooling them. may work for masdevallias too

I got two Phal noids from Home Depot last May called: "just add ice orchids"...they were dying and I wanted to rescue it; the manager gave it to me for a half discount but for a $29 orchid that was still steep for a dying dried up phal...
I didnt follow the directions...I just did what I usually do to take care of Phals...I not only make it bloom again on the same spike...after the blooms it gave me three healthy leaves and a basal keiki...I also emailed the just add ice people and gave them the ID number of the plants...maybe they can find in their databanks what the real names of my phals...

I don't know about the ice cube trick with Phals but an old commercial pineapple (another tropical plant) grower once told me that an ice cube dropped into the centre of a pineapple plant will initiate flowering which is necessary for the plant to fruit.

Baz

Interesting.

Hmmmm....hadn't thought of that. My masdies are mad at me right now because of the hot weather. I may try it. Thanks for the idea! :)

Another cooling idea for masdies is to pot them up in clay pots, and place that pot inside another slightly larger clay pot. Fill the gap with sphag that you keep damp. The evaporative cooling will help keep the root zone a bit cooler.