Water restrictions..

[prisana]

I have a problem..the new water restrictions in S.FL is in effect. I'm not supposed to water my orchids in the morning . Hand watering is only allowed 3 days a week from 5-7 pm. I've never watered my orchids in the evening before. Is this going to cause problems for my plants ? Is the dry air going to prevent the rots and fungus from happening ? I know I really have no chioce here but to do what I'm supposed to, but I have a lot of new orchids that I would hate to see suffer ...What would you guys do in the same situation ? HELP..

[tom499]

if your gonna water them in the evening, then the main thing to do is keep them warm and dry at night to avoid rot. if you have the machinery to control these it shouldnt be too much of a problem. i would also not water the plants, but dunk them in luke warm water, so avoid getting any water on the plant itself.

[arleneg]

How about collecting water during the times your allowed? By collecting as much you can during the allowed times, you can water your babies when they need it.

I have about 50 orchids, mostly growing indoors. Twice or three times a week, I collect 7-8 gallons (26-30 liters) of municipal water (can't use indoor softened water ) from the outside faucet and store in the garage. When I need to water, I just pour some in the watering can and water orchids when needed.

[prisana]

Thanks, Tom 499..
Arleneg--I've thought about that but I was afraid some nosey neighbors will report me , I don't know if that counts as an exception. Just like how I don't water my lawn, and instead of that, I should be able to hand water my plants, but one of the neighbors said I can't . I 'll have to check to see if that is the case. I have over 50 orchids, all are outside . I'm just so used to hose them down on Sat mornings , it takes me about 2 hours to do all the watering and fertilizing . But I think I will do the collecting water thing , as I don't see any other choice here..Thanks for the tips arleneg.

[Anton]

We have been on water restrictions for 18 months now, I STILL hand waterd them in the morning as our summers a very hot and dry and it is not uncommon to have triple heatwaves, that is, 3 weeks of the temperature not dropping below 36C (96.8F).

There's NO way I am only going to water once!

The other alternative, is to do what we in Australia do and collect rainwater in tanks and use that!

This company is one of the major makers of rainwater tanks, and will give you an idea of what Kevin Western and I were talking about in an earlier thread on collecting rain water for watering plants and as a drinking source.http://www.bushmantanks.com/

Not sure if you can buy rainwater tanks in the States, but it is worth the try.

[kmarch]

Hey Anton (or any Melbourne resident),

Melbourne is going on 3a restrictions (which for us is 2x/wk watering from 6-8am) starting April 1. Do you think my daily misting of my D. tetragonums counts as watering?

[Anton]

Nah!

We have been on level 4 all year and got close to 5. We have only been able to water one day, even numbered houses on Saturday, odds on Sundays from 6am to 8am and 8pm to 9pm.

Luckily my water tank has held up well between rain and as mentioned in another thread, I only use tank water anyway to water my orchids.

Thinking about an underground one now so that it can be hooked up to mains. The S.A. Government gives a rebate on all new tanks bought, and ALL new houses built have to have a rainwater tank by law now.

The River Murray has come to a stand still, so South Australia is in deep manure. Our reservoirs are at around 15% capacity at present, so we are praying desperately for a wet winter which we haven't had in 2 years.

DAMN EL NINO !!!!!

[turkeytaker]

I usually water mine in the evenings (water restriction, no watering outside but for two days a week), if they're outside during the summer. I've never had any trouble.

A night of wet that dries out immediately before noon has been beneficial to mine, in some ways. They get a nice drink and have roots wetter, longer through the day. All of my guys are in porous media, so it may be a bit different, depending on what you pot in.

Something else you could do, if you're uncomfortable watering at night, would be to fill some long pans during your watering hours and drizzle a little on top of the media. In the morning, you could take the plants, stick them in their pans, and let the water wick up through the pots during the day.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Water at the base of the plants and keep the water off the leaves. Also, you may want to find a fungicide to use with your watering, or follow watering with a sprikling can of the fungicide mix.

[prisana]

Thank you everybody..lots of good ideas .
Anton, and Kmarch..and I thought I had it bad.. I feel for you guys .
Cynthia, do you think the mixing fungicide in the water will be safe for seedlings ?

[kmarch]

Dear prisana,

I actually feel FORTUNATE we're only on 3a restrictions. I know several people who have been on level 4 restrictions for 6 mo or more. Level 4 restrictions completely ban all outside watering except where "grey water" is used (water reclaimed from showers, etc) or where one has a collection tank (although collection tanks aren't much good when it rarely rains).

-K

[prisana]

kmarch, I'm sure your orchids would love the "grey" water.. Thank goodness your area isn't all that bad. For me I think I just need a little of getting used to and little change in my routine , hey, if you guys can grow orchids in your 1 day a week restrictions, I can live with my 3 days a week.. ...I feel a lot better now

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

My experience with fungicides is limited. Physan 20 must be used carefully. I used a little too much (chug-a-lug style) and did some damage. Physan could probably be used at well under the label amount and still be useful. I have used one systemic fungicide that one gets at a home center/nursery, but haven't been able to tell if it was doing any good. Infact, my web reasearch indicated that it only worked on a very limited number of fungi, not a broad spectrum product. The best I have used, and seen real results from, is Phyton 27. It is both fungicide and bacteriocide, and is systemic. It has stoped some wilt problems and a red something, maybe fuserium, don't know, but before using it, this particular desease in some of my plants was terminal, now I use it several times, when it is convinient, on my problem plants, and they carry on to outgrow the disfigured parts. Problem is, it is very expensive and only available thru the internet. I think if you use Physan 20 at a very low rate, and alternate with no Physan, I would not expect any problems with your seedlings. I am about to remove a few seedlings from flask and will be dividing them up and spraying with the 3 fungicides I have to see how effective or damaging they are.

[prisana]

Thank you Cynthia, that was good information.. I'll try alternating physan 20 mix and water with a couple of the seedlings to see if the mix is right first, just to be on the safe side.. I have an old medicine dropper that will allow me to use one drop at a time.. ( can't be too careful ) In the mean time, I'll be careful about getting the leaves wet .