Submerging

[IdahoOrchid]

I have seen several references to NOT submerging orchids to water them. Would someone please post the reason for this. Sure seems like an old wives' tale or urban myth to me.

[tuvoc]

Steven, I think it means not use the same water over and over again. This could spread disease from one infected plant to all the others.

Kim

[goodgollymissmolly]

Wellllll, I'm just guessing why I would not do it. Since in most cases the potting medium will float, dunking the pot would disturb the medium and roots. Seems to me it could cause a lot of problems and/or cause a lot of root damage..

[Ray]

I guess it depends a lot on how you define "submerged".

Standing in water that doesn't float out the medium should be OK.

[goodgollymissmolly]

I suppose so. These are the definitions of submerge from Merriam Webster:

1 : to put under water 2 : to cover or overflow with water

I guess standing in water is more like wading. I wade a lot of Phrags , but I don't submerge them. It does not appear to be a good practice to me. But that's just my opinion, it is not based on anything but gut feel.

[Becca]

Hmmm....I submerge my mounted orchids all the time, unless they are in spike or have open flowers. I also have orchids planted in in bark and/or coconut husk chips, and yes the medium does float, but I have been doing this for however long I have had them (about 6 month's) and I haven't noticed any problems...perhaps I have just been lucky!

[goodgollymissmolly]

Hey, I'm not telling anybody that submerging orchids is a bad idea. The question was asked why the whisper mill seemed to disapprove of the practice. I responded with my opinion just like everybody else on this thread did.

Now, Becca, I can see how mounts might be different especially if the plant is securely attached to the mount either by mechanical means or by its own mature root attachment. As far as your potted plants are concerned, you admit that your medium floats and your experience with the practice is 6 months.

It is not good to have the potting medium disturbed with its associated root disruption. I don't THINK anyone would dispute that. So why do it? Secondly, six months is a short time to evaluate the effect of such a practice. Submerging roots seems wrong to me. Since it isn't necessary, why do it?

I have no data. I don't plan to get any. If submerging your plants works for you, then do it. It is not important whether I do it or not. I'm a libertarian..do what makes you happy...even when it makes no common sense because alternate more reasonable procedures exist that have no apparent downside.

[IdahoOrchid]

I think it depends on the degree to which the media floats away and/or shifts, right? Heck, I even have media movement (usually just on the surface) when I water from the top, especially with my s/h.

What is it about the media shifting that causes problems?

[goodgollymissmolly]

For goodness sakes, Steven. It's obvious that movement of the medium causes roots to dislodge, dislodging roots causes root damage, and root damage causes poor plant performance and possibly death.

Those are not debatable. Will slight movement of the surface clay in your SH during watering cause a problem? Probably not, but wholesale movement of the potting medium is not good. Ray even touts his SH potting containers as stiff enough to avoid medium movement during casual handling of pots. Why do think he says that?

We can debate this for years, but it won't change the result of disrupting and damaging roots.

[cb977]

Gonna add my here...

Let's keep this conversation friendly...or else