going on vacation, any tips on watering for phalaenopsis?
 

Hi
I'm going on vacation for 2 weeks and am looking for ideas on providing my 4 phalaenopsis with adequate water whilst away. I live in the middle east where it is currently summer and we have the A/C's on 24/7. The room temp is fairly steady 74 - 76 degrees but humidity only around 20 - 25%. Usually I mist them first thing in the morning and regularly top up the humidity tray.
I was considering buying an aquarium tank and standing them in this on the humidity tray in the hope to at least provide a more humid environment for them.
I do have a person who could come in once a week to water them but they need more than this due to our dry climate.
Any thoughts or tips gratefully recieved.

Hello. What size pots and what type of media are they in?

Hi Annmac, yes it helps to know what media they're in. If you had them in sphagnum moss and you gave the moss a real saoking you could get away with not watering them until you came back

I second this, if they are in moss, one big deep soak before you leave would be perfect--
then they can come soak it once while your gone, they should be good?
Are you in Qatar or Bahrain?

What if they were in bark in a clay pot?
would leaving one or two inch of water in a saucer cause root rot if applied just once every few months?

Or leaving wet sphagnum or sponge on top of the medium?

Thanks to all for your response.
They are in 4 inch opaque plastic pots with side slits and holes in the base. The growing media is bark.
I did wonder about using moss but I can't say I've seen any over here in Bahrain.
I've also considered leaving them standing in some water, particularly after reading the research study done in 1949 which I found a link to on this site yesterday.
I was hoping a few people may have actually experienced this situation and found a solution
Thanks again for any help or ideas.
Ann

Hello Ann,

At the moment I am a little farther South in Doha, Qatar. Do you normally water once or twice a week?

I have left part of my collection in the bathroom the day before I left I soaked everything with diluted physan 20 right before I left I did it again and filled the bathtub with water and closed the door then set the ac for the house to 85˚ f. and left for the week when I came back everything was ok

wonder if it would be OK to fill a large tray bucket with a soaked towel + sponges and put pots on top of that. Maybe the water would be wicked up

if the 4 plants fit into the aquarium that would work just water them thoroughly before you leave and get them out of the light. That cuts down on their metabolism and therefore need for water. I did a larger collection in a bathtub with some water in the bottom but lifted the plant so they were not sitting in the water and they did fine I set my AC to about mid 80's F.
Orchids can probably sustain a longer drought than 2 weeks if other stresses are minimzed.
Nick