Watering

[PhalPal]

Hi myxoma! I am in Orange County too, Placentia. I use tap/hose water on all my orchids and they are just fine. The water company recently sent out a full report on our water quality. (it was in with your water bill) Ours is very hard (560 total dissolved solids) but I have too many orchids to do bottled water. Keep in mind that if you use pure water you need to use the correct fertilizer to make sure your orchids get what the bottled water companies take out.

[NicC]

The Brita-type filter is essentially activated charcoal as is the GE type refrigerator filter(the water by the way is not cooled more than passing through the door.) From what I understand activated charcoal is great from removing color and tastes (smells) and some heavy metals from water but does not add anything as do whole house water purifiers/softeners which add appreciable amount of salt(sodium chloride) especially if not properly adjusted and maintained.
Nick

[davidos]

ew gallons inside overnight to bring up to room temp.

[nonee]

I was told to use ice cubes on my orchids. I live on a well so should I worry about chlorine? Am I harming my orchids, is ice not enough water? HELP!

Nonee

[PhalPal]

No, don't use ice!
How much you water depends on the orchid and where you grow it, so a little more information will help us to help you!!

[sunshine]

Do not use the ice cube method Well water does not have chlorine.,

I use just plain tap water and all my houseplants and orchids do fine.

[nonee]

Im honestly not sure what kind of orchid it is, I bought it at wal-mart it looked like it was dying. I started watering it like the tag said(with ice cubes) but now all my blooms have fallen off, the top half of the stem is turning brown and dying, on the bottom half the leaves are still lush. Its planted in a bark/rock soil, its inside, in inderect light, the blooms were a white petal with a purple center and the other is white with pink. Sorry I can't be more help.

Nonee

[nonee]

To all I solved the watering thing mine where root bound so I transplated over the weekend it was very warm here in Oregon and the roots where in standing water so I'm very pleased with all the help from all of you Thank you

[benetay]

I think this has been debated over and over again but still i will like to ask this question. I do on the air condition at night and the temp drops to 20 degrees, cooling enough for us human to sleep in. However the humidity drops to 50% from the regular 75-85%. I'm thinking if it's possible to mist or water at night to keep the sphag moss to be a little moist before the morning watering. Usually the sphag moss will be crispy in the morning and it takes at least 2 watering with an interval of 15 minutes to completely soak the plants and moss.

So do you think it's feasible to water maybe lets say 1-2am in the morning?

Cheers!

[Raptuserum]

Such an interesting and informative thread.

Perhaps I might need to let our tap water here at least overnight before misting the chids.

Cheers to all!!!

[formatroman]

I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about watering with fertilizer every few months. Is there any solid method for doing this to ensure even soil disbursement? I have been using "Flourish 7-8-6 Orchid Grow Formula" seems to work well, any suggestions of a better, or how often i should water with it?

[vanda_obsession]

We live in the city and our water here is high with chlorine.. Until recently I started leaving water out overnight for the chlorine to come out of the water. One thing I have tried to is with my goldfish, I used to buy spring water from the grocery stores since chlorine water isnt good for them, but it was getting expensive, so I bought tap water conditioner for them, just tried using it on my orchid water. It instantly breaks the chloramine bond, and uses 1 drop per gallon, or 1 teaspoon per 10 gallons (I think) Its $4.99 a bottle but it lasts for a very long time and I have not seem any negative results by using it to water my orchids, in fact, in the last two weeks I have been using it, I've seen an improvement on the looks of new leaves. Give that a try!

[vanda_obsession]

Originally Posted by nonee

I was told to use ice cubes on my orchids. I live on a well so should I worry about chlorine? Am I harming my orchids, is ice not enough water? HELP!

Nonee

I was given two "ice" orchids (as they are called that from the store) and they just suffer. By the time I get them, they are almost dead because they told her to put two ice cubes in it ONCE A WEEK! I revived one phal "ice cube orchid" that was given to me, the other one just came to me about a month ago now with bugs and was "ice cubed" and suffering. Spike is dead, leaves are gone, one root is sticking up out of the moss and I'm crossing my fingers that it survives.

[Jenny Ryan]

Thanks, that was so informative AND in plain English. We have Municipal water (tap) and a borehole because we have a large garden. My Cyms mostly get borehole because they're outside but my Phallies are inside so they get tap water. Would there be any benefit giving my phallies borehole water? The garden looks good, growing well.
For humidity I have my phallies standing ABOVE (not in) humidity trays which consist of normal plant drip trays with water with over-turned round drip trays as stands for the pots. I tried the pebble thing but it looked a bit yucky at the kitchen counter.