How dry to you let your orchids get before watering?

[Foogoo]

I've got mostly phals, a few catts, dendrobium, epis and oncidiums. Most are in medium bark, a few in fine bark, sphag and coarse bark.

I've mostly read, especially in beginner guides, not to water until the medium is dry, i.e. visually dry, light in weight or a stick comes out clean. However, the more I've been reading, many sources suggest that especially phals and oncidiums do not like to go completely dry.

So what has worked for you? Now I'm watering on a weekly basis when most of them are between dry and slightly moist.

[Brazilin]

It deppends on the species.
A very good trick that i use in my dendrobiuns is to not let the medium dry totally on the first months after the blooming. Three months before blooming you must let the medium dry totally. Two months before blooming, you must let the medium dry totaly, and that just sprinkle a little water on the roots, and in the next day you can water the plant normally. One month before blooming you must water the plant, and let it totally dry for two days, and then sprinke a little water. Since the orchid is under pression, it will not produce keikis and focus all of its energy on producing flowers. In most cases it produces huge quantities of flowers.
Well, I do this only on Dends., so I dont know if it works on other kinds of orchids.

[WeirdGuySeattle]

I like to let the plant decide. You can usually tell by how fast it sucks up the water. Judge that by weight - the plant will suck water out of the pot as it needs it.

Sometimes a plant will take up less water as natural light is low, temperatures go low, or it just enters dormancy.

Sometimes a plant will take up more water as it starts pushing out new growths, or pushing up flowers.

Size of pot also matters - if a plant is sitting in a lot of bark, they might take a while before they need water. Most orchids don't like being waterlogged - especially Oncidiums. The best with those is to underpot them and water after their media is almost dry.

[NYCorchidman]

I think what you are doing sounds fine.

Being completely dry is fine as long as it is only for VERY short time, especially when the weather is hot and dry, or when the plant is in active growth mode.

I go by the weight of the pot, which I find is the most accurate way to figure out the dryness of the potting mix.

Keeping plants constantly moist (not sopping wet) is the best when the mix is coarse like bark chips as there is usually enough air for the roots. but this is not easy to achieve at home culture.

[judith_arquette]

I hate to sound stupid but if you don't ask, you'll never know...does anyone use ice cubes? The instructions on one of my Phals directed using 3 ice cubes per week and I found a site that corroborated this method. I've been watering mine this way for 3 weeks now and hope it hasn't hurt them....

[Foogoo]

There's a few good posts, I believe in the stickied beginners phal thread that had a couple of good points on why ice cubes are probably not a good way to water. I'm on my phone so I can't readily find it, does anyone have a direct link?

[judith_arquette]

Thanks! I'm on my laptop reading through those "stickies" right now so I'm sure I'll find them This is such a great resource for so much info, I'm really hoping that with it and with the help of members I can keep my new acquisitions alive and help them thrive!

[No-Pro-mwa]

No, don't water them with ice cubes. They want you to kill them so you will have to buy another. Well you will have to buy another but hopefully you will still have the one you have now

[Dendy83]

There are some people who swear by the ice cube method, and some phals tolerate that kind of watering. However just because an orchid is surviving, does not mean it is thriving.

The problems with ice cubes is temperature. These are tropical plants and ice cold water standing directly on roots or trickling down to the roots is not good. They claim that you can't overwater with ice cubes, but yes you can. If you put an ice cube on an orchid every day of the week you'll get root rot just as much as if you were putting it under the faucet. I do know the site you are talking about, and there are people who are successful. But a few success stories is not enough, I'm sure you'll see people wondering and asking why their orchid is dying.

If you're unsure what is a reputable source for orchid keeping definitely check out some orchid books. But also, this forum is pretty awesome :-) In case you haven't found it yet, here is the sticky we were talking about:

The Phal Abuse Ends Here

[NYCorchidman]

Don't use ice cubes.

It's not really the temperature, but it is a concern. Who wants to have a cold shower anyways? lol

The main issue with the ice cube method is that the plant will stay alive (depending on how many cubes and how often) but never thrive for the simple reason of not enough water, especially when the potting mix is something coarse like bark chips.

It is a marketing gimmick designed for "lazy" people. The plants will stay alive for many people. just not the best thing in the world.