Vacationing with orchid(s)?

[brn_thmbs]

Originally Posted by jeremyinsf

So, how many people here have webcams set up to watch their orchids while on vacation?

wishlisted, awaiting approval from the "Minister of Finance"
*cough*ehem*

[Calbears]

Originally Posted by james mickelso

I say take it along. But what puzzles me is why you think a vanda can't go very long without water? I've had vandas and they went two weeks without water and didn't skip a beat. I just put them in a more shaded cooler spot while I went backpacking the sierra. Am I missing something?

Maybe it can, I have no prior experience with vandas. I was told by the grower I got it from to wet it daily and soak it weekly. Based on those instructions and the normally hot and dry conditions we get in August, I figured a week without water would maim if not kill the plant. It could be 75-80 but there's a good chance it could be highs in the mid 90s with very little day time humidity while we're gone. Combine that with the bare roots, and I was anticipating watering twice a day during that part of the summer.

The rest of my collection is potted so I'm not too worried about the week away. I'd rather take the vanda with me than come home to an orchid corpse, but perhaps I'm being paranoid.

[Orchidflowerchild]

Originally Posted by Calbears

Maybe it can, I have no prior experience with vandas. I was told by the grower I got it from to wet it daily and soak it weekly. Based on those instructions and the normally hot and dry conditions we get in August, I figured a week without water would maim if not kill the plant. It could be 75-80 but there's a good chance it could be highs in the mid 90s with very little day time humidity while we're gone. Combine that with the bare roots, and I was anticipating watering twice a day during that part of the summer.

No reason you couldn't slide it in a pot and/or throw some loose moist sphagnum around the roots. There's really no reason, to be honest, why you can't grow vandas in pots, provided you keep them from rotting, by working out the media/pot combination for your habits.

-Ceci

[Bud]

Two weeks is not such a bad thing as long as you put it outdoors under a shade where the humidity in your atmosphere can help it.
Soak it overnight before you leave.

[The Orchid Boy]

I took a few mounted orchids with us on a camping trip a few weeks ago, and I also set up a webcam when I wanted to see an orchid after it opened its bloom...

[cythaenopsis]

Originally Posted by jeremyinsf

So, how many people here have webcams set up to watch their orchids while on vacation? I haven't done it... yet.

Better yet, have a water spigot electronically controlled, attached to a USB port on your computer. While you're away, via an Internet connection you trigger the spigot to open and then close when done. True long distance watering!

[jeremyinsf]

Originally Posted by cythaenopsis

Better yet, have a water spigot electronically controlled, attached to a USB port on your computer. While you're away, via an Internet connection you trigger the spigot to open and then close when done. True long distance watering!

You DO realize this is technically possible, right?

[cythaenopsis]

Originally Posted by jeremyinsf

You DO realize this is technically possible, right?

Oh yes, definitely. If you're up for the costs involved.

The Internet enabled web cam is pretty cheap to do, but it's the servo motor controlled mechanism that is the trick. And of course, you need the appropriate software on your computer that not only can control it, but can be utilized by a browser application. You also want a fail safe just in case something goes wrong, as water running continuously could be a major disaster.

Alternatively, having a timer controlled water release mechanism on a pre-filled reservoir is a lot more cost effective. And even more economically viable is one of the soil soakers (a porous cone that sits in soil, with a long tiny tube inserted in a large jug of water), which you can utilize for orchids by wrapping the cone in a band of moss to aid capillary action.

[james mickelso]

Why would you want to water your computer?