Watering in colder weather.

[Paul Mc]

I'm curious how everyone else handles watering their orchids that are outside during colder weather.

I already know that they don't want to be wet when the night temperatures dip into lower temperatures, but how do you water orchids that need daily watering?

Do you water in the morning, afternoon, etc...?

I have several mounted and basket orchids that need daily watering, sometimes twice a day. I'm wondering if I should wait to water until afternoon when the temperatures are a bit warmer as opposed to first thing in the morning.

[Wjs2nd]

What kind of orchids? What are the cooler temps at?

[Paul Mc]

Night time temps are in the 50's, daytime in the lower to mid 70s.

There are all sorts, ranging from Vanda's and Gastrochillus to Oncidium alliance (including tolumnia's) and Dendrobiums. Also, Stanhopea and many other genera. See my pull down list for the complete list. Most are outdoors, except for about 10 or 15.

[Wjs2nd]

Okay, the reason I asked is some of those are going to want a winters rest in the next month or so. With the cooler temps I would say you could possible water less or wait till it warms up a little during the day. Actually, I use warm tap water for my orchids.

[glengary54]

Paul - For me a temp spread of 70's - 50's is not reason to really change most of your watering habits. When I worked in a commercial orchid greenhouse, we kept the houses heated at 55 degrees at night and continued our regular watering program, obviously with cooler temps, plants won't need to be, for the most part, watered as often.

As to the mounted stuff, here in Florida, my winter day time temps are sometimes in the 40's and 50's, on those days, when plants need to be wtered I wait until the temps warm up and run off the cold water in the pipes before I water the plants.

There are periods when I go as long as 7-10 days without watering, with lower winter temps, the growth on most orchids slows down to a crawl so make sure your plants are dry my nightfall and make sure that they have good air circulation.

[Cym Ladye]

As the temperatures cool I will water less frequently but always in the morning. I keep an eye on the weather report and if it is due to be warm and sunny, I water. That gives the plants all day to dry out. Air movement, even if the temperatures are cooler, will dry the plants so I do not wait until peak temp of the day to water.

CL

[Orchidreamer]

I like watering in the morning; don't mind soaking the leaves thoroughly.

One more thing I'm a little worried about: It's been raining for the past week and even today, it's raining right now, at night, with the temps in the 60s right now. My plants outside are soaked...cold weather + water in crowns/between leaves = uncomfortable plants or even...rot?

[Bud]

My work is at 3pm till 11pm...so I wake up at 11 or noon...then I water what is out in my fire escape...because I know most of my neighbors in the apartment building are at work.(they freak on Sundays when I water) so I make sure that I water on sat and sun early 5am when they are still asleep... I know its cold but my plants dont care(all my plants will be indoors when frost comes=according to the Farmer's almanac frost will come to me on Nov 11th so 2 weeks before that all my plants get indoors)...its not in the 50's here yet at night so I can still water on my regular regimen.

[Paul Mc]

Zootrophian, yes, that may be an issue depending upon what type of orchid you have. Phal's and paph's are extremely suscetable to crown rot in those conditions. Oncidiums are as well, but quite as much as the previously mentioned too - but it does still happen as I have personally experienced this year.

As a result, I keep my phal's and paph's on a screened in porch sheltered from the rain. While the rain would be good for them, I have lost way too many in those types of conditions to continue letting them outside.

Now, if they are mounted, it may be a different story if they have had long enough to grow into the direction they would in nature - to protect their sensitive areas. Mine are all potted and while many have grown to the almost correct natural state in the pot, I still do not expose them to the rain.

[Orchid126]

The one thing that the outdoors has is super great air circulation.

The movement of the air helps dry the plants quickly, thus the slight coolness is less of a problem than one might think, depending, of course, on the particular orchid. One should always be extremely careful about watering phals. Never, ever allow water to stay in the crown, whether indoors or outdoors, and regardless of how cool or warm the temperature is.