Water Makes Flowers Wilt?

[dianecty]

Hi everyone! I have a watering problem. I put my orchids on a plant stand that have grills as shelves. When I spray my plants using a garden hose or a gallon sprayer, the water flows into the pot and comes out the bottom and side in large droplets - hitting the flowers below.

If I spray above the flowers, the flowers wilt or the petals become thin and wilt and die.

Even I spray in a mist style with the smallest droplets possible, this still happens. It's like the water droplets are too harsh /big on the flowers. HOw do I fix this? Is the force of the spray too strong or is it that the droplets are too big?

Any suggestions?

Thanks

[quiltergal]

Water them individually with a watering can, and not on the shelf.

[dianecty]

Hi! That takes too long. I have over 50 plants and having to take them out of the stand water them, wait for them to drain and put them back will take me at least 1 hour.

[quiltergal]

So do I and it takes me longer than an hour.

[CodiMN]

Flowers are sensitive to water. I would just focus on spraying the roots and leaves. Have you tried moving some orchids that are flowering to another location so they don't get dripped on? Put the flowering 'chids on the upper shelf? Maybe there's a way to set up a misting system?
Terri, yeah it takes me almost an hour to water my orchids and I don't have more than a dozen! I need to pick up my game!

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[quiltergal]

For me it's the weekly inspection. Check for bugs, check for spikes, check for new leaves and roots. For me it is time well spent. Today I spotted a few scale on a recently acquired plant. I treated immediately and hopefully caught it before it took off.

Diane even if the plants weren't in bloom if the pots on the top shelf are dripping into the pots on the bottom shelf you are setting yourself up for the spread of pathogens. Water should never be shared between plants. That's how all sorts of diseases get transmitted from plant to plant.

[susiep]

Hey Diane, I know what you mean. But if you want to keep the flowers nice, longer you can't wet them. They get spots, wilt and die sooner. I would move all the blooming plants to the top shelf or away entirely. I keep all my plants outside and they get sprayed (very heavily) by the hose or drenched by rain. So all the blooming plants get rotated indoors or to the porch and that way they get a more delicate watering than their non-blooming siblings. I have about 85 plants, but usually only 10-15 are blooming at one time. Besides I can enjoy them better inside.

[dianecty]

That's a good idea Susie. Do you think a fog spray nozzle would fix the problem? Does it prevent the droplets from falling to the lower level? BArring moving all the flowering plants elsewhere of course.

The problem is I put my flowerless dends on the top shelf since they can stand more sunshine. My phals are on the 2nd level bec they get sunburned easily.

My apartment is too dark to put orchids indoors.

[ladyslipper]

Originally Posted by dianecty

That's a good idea Susie. Do you think a fog spray nozzle would fix the problem? Does it prevent the droplets from falling to the lower level? BArring moving all the flowering plants elsewhere of course.

The problem is I put my flowerless dends on the top shelf since they can stand more sunshine. My phals are on the 2nd level bec they get sunburned easily.

My apartment is too dark to put orchids indoors.

Hi dianecty, I also live in an apartment and I am really interested in others who grow without the benefit of a basement or greenhouse to grow. I guess for me both the best and worst time is carrying the plants 5 at a time over to the kitchen sink and watering. I find really "cool" things going on like a new bud or root. Thats the good part. The bad is mites or something worse (cross fingers here). I would love nothing better than to have even a small greenhouse where I can go nuts with a water wand and repot without cleaning up for an hour after a repotting session. I found out the hard way about the damage water does to the blooms. I finally got my Phal amabilis to "spike" and not realizing the damage I was doing with my morning misting routine. Lost at least have the flowers through early wilting due to the water hitting and sometimes staying on the flowers. The flowers looked really sweet with the droplets of water on the petals, but boy something that should have lasted at least a month, lasted days. What a hard lesson. Anyway, where do you go your plants? Mine is in my east livingroom under lights. My stand is not the prettiest thing in the world, very anti Fung shui. But I can spend easily an hour talking to some plants and threatening others for not blooming better.

Maybe I need to get a cat? Talking to plants? Oh oh! m

m

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[susiep]

Diane, I don't know about indoor growing. Hopefully some experts will chime in here with ideas. I do know that though the flowers are sensitive to water, they seen to be able to handle a lot more light than the leaves (even if they are white flowers). You wouldn't think so, but water causes more damage to the appearance of the flower than the full sun does (in my experience).