Submerging

[Shirley]

Just want to throw in my worth. My plant room situation is not condusive to watering with a hose and puddling over the vinyl floor so I've been dunking my orchids for more than twenty years with a two-gallon bucket. I start by pouring some water over the top of the medium to wet it well, which seems to stop it from floating up. Then I dunk the pot to the rim and hold it for several seconds so that the solution penetrates well. If the medium starts to shift, holding it with my two thumbs keeps it in place. Then I set the plant in it's spot on the eggcrate to drip. I realize that there is a risk of transferring insects or infections but I change the water several times and haven't noticed any particular problems with this method. Also it gives me better control over the water temperature. While perhaps not ideal, I think it's a convenient way to take care of the watering in certain situations.

[IdahoOrchid]

Thank you to ALL who have contributed to this discussion. Pros, cons and warnings are what make it easier to make a personal choice in matters such as this.

Now if only our corporate and national leaders could take a lesson from this!!!!!

[Ray]

Dreamer

[Sandy4453]

I don't submerge any of my orchids but can't imagine any harm, except with Phals. Being that my Phals. are potted up and not hanging down in trees, it just seems way too easy to invite problems with crown rot. The only time I might consider it is with new bark, even pre-soaked and then, only water half way up the pot to let the bark wick up the water.

Also, a well established plant will not have it's roots compromised by any method of watering. Roots don't become dislodged once they start attaching themselves to whatever the medium is they're growing in. When I repot my Dends., the old pot gets potted up into the new pot. There's absolutely no way to free those roots from the rim of the pots or from the medium they're in no matter how much soaking, submerging is done to loosen up those beautiful roots.

....of course, these comments are, in my humble opinion

[Undergrounder]

The only orchids i dunk are Phals. I just put the pot in a bucket of water until the water seeps through to the top of the medium. This way, i can water a communal pot of about 15 Phals in one go without getting any water in the crowns like is inevitable when i water from above.

All of the orchids i dunk have been reared from flasks, so unless a suspect virus can make its way from an infected plant on my balcony into my basement i dont think there's any problem with spreading disease regardless of whether there's damage or not.

I also find it particularly useful with my Phal schilleriana that are in mostly perlite. Because the roots grow straight down, they're constantly pushing themselves out of the pot. By submerging a little more and letting the perlite rise in the pot, i can literally push the plant back down without needing to dig into the pot.

I haven't done it but i imagine it would also be perfect for adding flasklings to a community pot. While the perlite is slushing around like a porridge you can stick the 'ling straight in, then lift the pot out of the water and the perlite firms back around the roots.

Even with whatever root disturbance they get from shifting mix, my Phal schillerianas are possibly the happiest orchids i have in the collection, they're growing new roots and leaves like crazy and the roots are deep green.

[tuvoc]

Wow what a great discussion! Just goes to prove the point that there as many ways to take care of orchids as there are folks growing them. If it works for you, it's right for you. And what better tribute to the members of the best site on the web, the OB!

Kim

[Sandy4453]

Undergrounder, I'm curious as to your schilleriana that you have potted in straight perlite. Just perlite, nothing else? What size perlite? And why not your other Phals? Would appreciate knowing more of what it is you know.

[Undergrounder]

Originally Posted by SRF

Undergrounder, I'm curious as to your schilleriana that you have potted in straight perlite. Just perlite, nothing else? What size perlite? And why not your other Phals? Would appreciate knowing more of what it is you know.

Yeah sure, though im by no means any expert, im new to flasks and phal schilleriana so im winging it at the moment. I don't know if perlite is really reccommended in general but hey it works so far for me.

It is just perlite, fairly coarse as well. Here's a comparison pic of the same plants (or at least two different pots from the same batch). In the first pic the top part is about a month after deflasking, clearly suffering from both not enough humidity and not enough air movement. The second part is about a month ago and after moving them into a converted fishtank / humidicrib with a fan. The third part is this morning. Then the next few photos are after first setting up the tank and then the last one is all of the phals this morning.

Clearly the extra humidity and air movement made the big difference but since the roots have always been a nice green colour, i persisted with the perlite and it looks like they love it. The leaves look a little thin but i think that's a light issue. By the way the perlite was just an idea for a straight deflasking medium in order to keep the mix as sterile as possible. My Dendrobium kingianum flasklings actually loved it as well... i changed them into bark thinking they can't live in perlite all their life and they all started rotting, so i moved them into coconut husk/pebbles and they're much happier now. I think it was important to let the perlite dry out totally between waterings. Its handy in that respect because you can feel the obvious difference in weight with perlite when it's dry.

At the moment I give the phals 1/4 strength fertiliser every 3/4 waterings, usually weekly. I don't think they need this much but they're growing quickly and as you know perlite doesnt have any nutes.

I spoke to an experienced grower yesterday and he has great success with 3:1 perlite:husk fibre for his ordinary phals.

[Sandy4453]

You're going to have yourself some beautiful (and lots!) of schilleriana's Undergrounder. Best of luck with these. Do you have any mature Phals in straight perlite? I've heard of this with the s/h growing as well. And yes, coco husk and perlite are what a few people I know grow theirs in and they're all happy with that. Another member here grows all his Phals in coir/perlite/charcoal and has unbelievable success with his Phals. I tried it on one Phal. and the plant was dead within 2 weeks. I'm in hot, humid Florida and grow on a screened patio. He's in much milder climate, very little humidity and it works beautifully for him.

Again, best of luck with these seedlings and thanks for the pics.

[Becca]

As Sandy said previously, thanks for sharing the pictures! We all love to see pictures, especially of nice healthy babies like yours!