Well I heard that with Vanilla orchids you can only plant them if the moon is waxing or waneing or something like that. So maybe if it's a Saturday then it'll work and then any other day it would kill it.

Cooper, this comes up all the time and people think that the trickle water from the ice cubes will be at near freezing temp and kill the orchid roots. We need some scientific type person to explain why this is not so.

I haven't got any ice cubes or time to try it out but I think it might be fine if you have one or two Phals. Seeing I have a big collection of six Phals I'll stick to watering them the traditional way.

Well a drip system might work for some Phals if they have good drainage. 'Cause in the jungle water might drip down a tree and over the roots.

Lets give some thought about where epiphytic orchids (or at least the vast majority of them) actually grow, and how.

First, all epiphytic (so called air plants) are tropical, or subtropical. I know of only one that grows in a climate where freezing temps are the norm in winter.

These plants grow on the high limbs in the tree canopy in the forest, or on the trunks of the trees. The ones that tolerate more sunlight are higher with less leaf cover for shade, and the ones wanting less light, on lower limbs, or on the trunks of the trees.

Now imagine these limbs and tree trunks, thickly covered with all kinds of lichens, mosses, bromeliads, and assorted multitudes of other plants. The orchids grow among all of this, with roots that burrow down to the actual limb or trunk and attach themselves firmly to these solid supports. The orchid roots may grow many feet up and down these limbs or trunks, or perhaps hang down.

In the tropics it rains most every day of the year, Maybe only a light shower, but rain. Most of this rain comes during the middle or hot part of the day, so no sooner does it hit the plant encrusted limbs than it begins to drip off or drain down the trunks, and as soon as the shower passes the sun comes out and aids in the evaporation of any moisture on the limbs.

If there is a dry season, and the rains don't come every day, the mosses and other plants on the limbs do retain moisture for a considerable amount of time.

So, orchids grow in trees, lightly shaded with their roots climbing around for yards, growing through bare areas, into constantly wet limb "crotches", and through the masses of other plants up there. They get completely soaked when it rains, but as soon as it stops the plants begin to dry. If the dry period is very long, the orchid will be reduced to getting moisture only from those very wet limb "crotches", and other protected places the roots have grown through or into.

Now, you have an orchid in your home, what does it want? It wants a potting medium that its roots can grow around in and attach to. Some of those roots may decide to wander out of the pot and hang down, or grow up and around the plant, who knows, remember.....they think they are high in a tree.

The orchid also wants a as much sunlight as it can stand....you will have to research this depending on the orchid, and understand this usually precludes those nice lush green succulent plants that develop just before the plant wilts into a mess from lack of light.

Lots of air motion is also highly desirable. this also prevents lots of plant diseases, and problems like mold and fungus growth.

The orchid also would like to become almost completely dry before watering, and then completely soaked for a watering, and then allowed to dry again. Some research is needed here again, for some orchids want a bit more moisture all the time, and must be watered more frequently.....Phalaenopsis for example.

Three ice cubes just don't cut it! Tropical rain is warm, even at night, and three cubes can't water the entire plant.

I think the three ice cube deal was a commercial attempt to prevent folks from overwatering their orchid plants. Orchids will live and actually thrive much longer when kept dry and starved for water than they will if kept wet all the time.

Root rot will develop in a pot kept constantly wet before you know it, and although the plant will look ok for a good while, it has no roots to supply moisture and nutrients, and the first symptoms the plant does exhibit are all the outward signs of lack of water.....inexperienced growers immediately begin to water the shriveled limp plant more and more because everyone says its dehydrated, needs water. This is one reason I suggest new growers shy away from plastic pots when possible. They hold water much longer than clay.

Just my little rant for the day. Hope it helps someone.

Bill

Bill, you wrote mostly what I thought...though it's been written SO many times, I'm tired of writing it. I wish people would read old threads before they post a FAQ question. Good job :)

Ok my turn, I live in a tropical climate (tropics) we have a wet season and a dry one meaning lots of rain then sometimes drought. Now most phals comes potted in spagnum moss which hold a great deal of water .so they wouldn't actually need to be drenched.

Now when a grower buys a phal the first thing you want to do if it's not in bloom is REPOT and of course we all prefer BARK medium reason it allows you to drench the plant but don't actually hold the water thus memicking the tropics.

There is no way three ice cubes can supply enough moisture like that. I honestly think that was ment for spagnum which as we all know is a death sentence for phals with novice growers.

If you want your plant for decoration purpose when in bloom then discard after by all means go right ahead. But if you plan to keep it around for the long haul, pretend you never heard anything about three ice cubes and take advise from who actually KNOWS how to keep a phal alive the correct way. It's your choice really.

Unless you plan to keep replacing it. Which I am sure the vendors have NO problem with, but then again your wallet will.oh and I actually have 33 beautiful HEALTHY ONE. .VELLETA

Well written, Bill.

Jane

And nice one-two punch, Velleta :) I don't mind helping, just want people to try to help themselves some.

Yes, this all very well, but, I suggest that one of us "EXPERTS" try using the three ice cubes a week and see what happens.

Not me because I live in Phalaenopsis death zone. Anyway, I've posted in the past about the "tropical myth" .... tropical downpours, warmth, humidity, breezes and so on which leads new growers to turn the potting mix of their purchase into a swamp.

They (phalaenopsis) are hard to grow here. My little collection have just about finished their summer vacation, just above the floor of a glass-house.

Current conditions there 29C 72% and sweat on the brow.

I don't think I need to drop a brick on my foot to say Owww. I've grown Phals for at least ten years, and I know what underwatering is....and so do they. I refuse to buy a plant and intentionally kill it. I don't think I EVER killed a phal...they're so easy. (Actually, that may be the point, that they can adapt and grow roots into the small area that the ice cubes wet...and thus survive...still not good culture imo)

I'm sure after a month in a std dry household environment, any of us could see dessication on the surface of a Phal that has lived on 3 weekly ice cubes.

They are so easy! Lol. Maybe the original poster should have trotted next door and observed the condition of the Phals. and reported that to us.

I have related previously how i handed out 40 Phalaenopsis to members of an orchid society for a growing competition. Needless to say most of them were dead within a very short time.

What is easy here might be difficult in zone 7 and so on.

Arthur, a lot of orchids from tropical Australia do well here in zone 10b, northern part of south florida. We will occasionally freeze and must protect most of those tropical Aussies. I too have difficulty growing phals. They decline slowly. I can keep them for 3 or 4 years. Declining every year. I believe it is due to the summer heat. I must also say that there are growers around here that grow them well and long lasting. Because the choice of orchids is so very large I've decided to make an effort in advance to determine if the plant will like the culture offered. If not then it gets given away or traded. It might go the way of survival of the fittest. If the menu of orchids was small I would take on a more varied approach. But I probably will not run out of choices of plants that like it here for 50 years or more. So I'll work on all those easy ones first...No more phals. Except they make great gifts for the non orchid growers. The bloom will last for months until it becomes discarded. And they have gotten cheap. So a high mileage gift...

Arthur, I LIVE in a Zone 7 (that doesn't really mean anything with relation to heat indexes)..and my phalaenopsis experience was here (Northwest Arkansas)...before I moved elsewhere and couldn't have orchids due to living in an subterranean apartment in a snowy hell (up north). Yes, it isn't nearly as hot for as long as in Florida or Australia, and I could tell they liked the autumn chill before being brought in. So..yes, climate does affect things.

However, I haven't grown any orchid easier than Phals....though Howeara and dendrobium phalaenopsis are close seconds on that for me. I believe they're all easier than growing an african violet or overwintering a hibiscus shrub inside. They're far more forgiving with forgetting to water (maybe not on pouring water endlessly over the soil).

Personally, I've never seen or heard of an Ice Cube Cloud in the tropics so have had trouble understanding that this advice ever saw the light of day. I see, how it may have started after reading this thread. Bill you are so eloquent in your explanations. Glad, I'll be able to learn a little bit more on orchid culture from reading your posts.

It doesn't apply to the tropics, it applies to non orchid growers who buy a house plant and horror upon horrors I suspect it might work. That is why we need a scientist to explain why the drip water in a nice warm centrally heated home would be quite warm by the time it gets to the orchid roots.

Paragraphs deleted!

Dbarron, Overwintering a Hibiscus Shrub inside? There you go, that is why I say real orchid growers live in the frozen north. So why were there audible groans when I handed out the Phalaenopsis orchids for the growing competition? Because orchid society growers had tried them and they always died. No difference this time. No idea of outside> inside orchid culture and not necessary for the orchids that society members and the public grow around these parts.

As for the chill, The growers here with Phalaenopsis houses let the temperature drop a bit in autumn to stimulate blooming, maybe there is some event such as the beginning or end of the rainy season in the tropics which does the same thing.

Harvey, phals do really well for me but I keep them inside year-round. I could put them outside spring and fall but frankly don't have time for that little game. When I lived up north I had to keep them indoors. When I moved to FL I read up all the related posts and decided to keep them safely in my plantroom.

Here is how I keep my phals. Maybe if someone else wants to keep phals down here, have trouble keeping them outdoors and have the indoor space they can do it that way too. With or without AC or heat my plantroom stays around 80 in the daytime because of all the light fixtures and about 10 degrees cooler at night. My humidity is 50-80%. Sometimes I have to turn the humidifier on to achieve it. In the fall I open the windows for a couple of weeks. The phals are happy and bloom every year.