<\/h3>\n1. ORCHID TYPE:<\/h3>\n
Naturally, different species need different waterings. \u00a0First you need to identify what specie, ate least what genus, you’re dealing with. \u00a0In general, Miltonia, Phalaenopsis and Paphiopedilum enjoy constant humid conditions; whilst Cattleya and Dendrobium prefer to be almost dry before their next watering.<\/p>\n
If you’re not sure about what type of orchid you have, please upload a picture of it in our forum and we’ll do our best to help yu identify it!! \u00a0This is the link:\u00a0http:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/foro\/what-species-to-i-have\/<\/a><\/p>\n Water evaporates faster from clay pots than from plastic or glass pots. Keeping this in mind, orchids planted in clay pots need more water than one of the same species plantes in a plastic pot, and even more than those planted in glass vases without drainage.<\/p>\n Never plant your orchid in a decorative pot!! \u00a0The chemicals of the paint and coating can poison the roots. \u00a0Plant them in a plastic pot and then place this plastic pot inside the decorative one.<\/p>\n Choose the type of material that best suits your lifestyle: if you only want to dedicate a few minutes a week to your orchids, choose plastic!!<\/p>\n Also, consider your weather conditions: if you live in a very humid zone, a clay pot is perfect. \u00a0If your area is very dry, we recommend you choose plastic or glass to preserve the humidity longer.<\/p>\n This factor is more important than the type of pot. \u00a0For example, Sphagnum moss takes longer to dry than bark; organic media in general takes longer to dry than inorganic media, such as LECA or perlite.<\/p>\n Therefore, an orchid potted in a mix of growing media where the main ingredient is moss, should be watered less frequently than an orchid potted in perlite.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, you need to observe how long it takes (days) for your media to dry and this way you won’t be overwatering and you can start to determine your watering routine.<\/p>\n Your orchid’s roots and your media will dry up faster if:<\/p>\n We must consider the environmental changes according to the season. \u00a0In general, your orchids will require more abundant and frequent waterings during hot summer days than they will throughout the cold winter months.<\/p>\n Stop for a moment and observe your environmental conditions!! \u00a0Is it hot, dry and there is strong light? Or is it warm, humid and not so bright?<\/p>\n A tip to help you determine your orchid’s needs is to compare them with yours: are you constantly drinking water and seeking for a shadowy place to cool down? \u00a0Does your nose feel dry inside because the air is dry or are you sweating because the humidity around you is high? \u00a0Are you cold and not that thirsty? \u00a0Are you looking for a ray of sun to heat up? \u00a0The same thing happens with your orchids!!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Once you’ve checked these 4 factors you surely have an idea of what your orchids need!! \u00a0Understanding these factor is important, but knowing when to water shouldn’t be a mystery!! \u00a0How to know if it’s time to water or not yet?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1.- the media must never feel wet or soggy \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 2.- the media should never be super dry, dehydrated<\/p>\n \u00a03.- smaller pots (4″ diameter) need more frequent waterings than bigger pots (6″+ diameter): the smaller\u00a0will dry faster.<\/p>\n 4.- orchid roots and media in pot clays will dry faster than in plastic pots or glass vases<\/p>\n 5.- always use temperate water, never cold or hot: please do not use ice cubes!!<\/p>\n 6.- always water over the media, never over the plant. \u00a0If your orchid has a crown, like Phalaenopsis do, it’s important that it doesn’t get wet; if a deposit forms in the crown, you should dry it out with a clean cloth, cotton or a Qtip to avoid crown rot.<\/p>\n 7.- and when in doubt, it’s better to skip the watering for a\u00a0couple of days!! \u00a0The main cause of death is overwatering!!\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n In the next days, you’ll notice the pot is loosing weight. \u00a0It will get lighter as the water is being absorbed by the plant and is evaporating from the pot. \u00a0With some practice, you’ll get to know if’s time to water just by picking up the pot.<\/p>\n 2.- get some wooden skewers or chopsticks. Just as if you were checking the cooking of a cake, gently stick a skewer or chopstick in the center of the pot, slowly to avoid hurting the roots; leave it there for a couple of minutes and take it out. \u00a0Touch it. \u00a0How does it feel?<\/p>\n If it’s cold and humid to the touch, it means that the media is still wet. \u00a0You should\u00a0wait a few days to water your plants.<\/p>\n If it’s almost dry or dry, then it’s time to water again!!<\/p>\n Remember that most orchids in nature grow with their roots out in the open, so even if they are getting waterings everyday from continuos rains in the tropical forests, the roots are exposed to the wind that helps them dry out. \u00a0They love high RH levels, but they don’t like to stay wet.<\/p>\n Organic media, like bark or moss, will remain wet longer and they will eventually decompose. \u00a0If you keep them wet, they’ll go bad faster, rotting and therefore rotting the roots of your orchid.<\/p>\n If you have doubts about growing media, we recommend the semi hydroponic growing method. \u00a0But don’t change your orchids from your current growing media or method to a new one (unless is necessary because of disease), until you have new root growths. \u00a0The orchid should have 3 or 4 new roots about 1.5″ long (each), that will be able to adapt to the new conditions. \u00a0Old roots will probably won’t adapt and may die; this is ok as long as you have new roots that will help your orchid.<\/p>\n Once you’ve determine the frequency of your waterings, you’ll catch yourself doing it automatically!! \u00a0This means that you won’t have to go through all the steps each time you water. \u00a0For example, we grow our orchids in SH with LECA, we water them once a week in the morning, with warm water. \u00a0We fertilize with 3 of 4 waterings a month. \u00a0During the colder months, we space the waterings to every 10 days and we increase the lightning (some direct sunrise light) and the ventilation. \u00a0During the hotter months, we let them soak for 10 or 15 minutes, to make sure they are well hydrated; if it’s really hot, we make sure to refill the water reservoir between waterings and we increase the RH if necessary. (Tips to increase RH<\/a>)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you often wonder: how should I water my Phalaenopsis? How much water should I give my Dendrobium? \u00a0How often should I water my orchids? … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[293],"tags":[318,311,312,391,307,315,323,309,392,394,342,320,321,316,343,322,314,313,341,393,310,308,319,317],"class_list":["post-13097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advice","tag-bark","tag-grow-orchid","tag-growing-orchids","tag-how-to-care-for-orchids","tag-orchid","tag-orchid-advice","tag-orchid-ants","tag-orchid-care","tag-orchid-care-instructions","tag-orchid-care-videos","tag-orchid-crown","tag-orchid-disease","tag-orchid-fungus","tag-orchid-growing-media","tag-orchid-leaves","tag-orchid-pests","tag-orchid-photos","tag-orchid-pictures","tag-orchid-roots","tag-orchid-supplies","tag-orchid-tips","tag-orchids","tag-sick-orchid","tag-sphagnum-moss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13097"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13103,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13097\/revisions\/13103"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/h3>\n
2. WHAT’S YOUR POT MADE OF:<\/h3>\n
![\"Captura](\"http:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Captura-de-pantalla-2013-09-20-a-las-06.18.44-300x238.png\")
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3. WHAT TYPE OF MEDIA ARE YOU GROWING IN:<\/h3>\n
![\"Captura](\"http:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Captura-de-pantalla-2013-12-12-a-las-11.50.42.png\")
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4. YOUR ENVIRONMENT:<\/h3>\n
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![\"1\"](\"http:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/1.png\")
<\/h2>\n7 RULES OF WATERING:<\/span><\/h2>\n
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2 TIPS TO KNOW IF IT’S TIME TO WATER:\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
![\"Captura](\"http:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Captura-de-pantalla-2013-12-12-a-las-12.05.52-150x150.png\")
1.- when your plant is dry. pick up the pot and try to make a mental note of it’s weight. \u00a0Water it abundantly until the media is saturated and then pick it up again and make a second mental note of it’s weight.<\/p>\n![\"Captura](\"http:\/\/www.lacasadelasorquideas.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/12\/Captura-de-pantalla-2013-12-12-a-las-12.06.45-300x198.png\")
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