# How often to water paphs



## lady slipper (Sep 17, 2018)

I know this is a common thread and question for us all. I have been growing and blooming orchids for a number of years and one rule often stated is something like? if phals wait, if paphs water? anyway I am growing in Orchiata medium (size of bark is confusing from the source) recommended for paphs. So my question is 'if' I water every 4 to 5 days or it is recommended that way ...do you count the day it is watered to the next watering or ONLY the two or three days in between? I know much depends on relative humidity, light, seasons, dormant or active and a host of things. From some growers I have received plants growing in a lot finner medium than I am using and yet I also have a few new paphs that I have in too large a medium because I didn't have anything on hand at the time and they are in sheath - so I guess they might be more forgiving that some people imagine? thanks


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## Ray (Sep 17, 2018)

All of my paphs and phrags are in semi-hydroponics, so stay constantly moist, but the medium stays very airy.

If you think about them in nature, their roots tend to traverse the ground in the fine and decomposing leaf litter on the forest floor, which stays pretty evenly damp, so replicating that can't hurt!


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## NYEric (Sep 17, 2018)

We water every day. It's up to your humidity, temps, and airflow.


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## ehanes7612 (Sep 17, 2018)

a day is 24 hours from the moment of watering...so if you water at 2pm on monday..2pm on tuesday would be one day ...then 2pm on wednesday would be two days...2pm on thursday would be 3 days,..2pm on friday would be four days...and so on and so on...(the same applies to car rentals and days until xmas)


in reality, Eric is watering 24/7 ...he waters in his sleep


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## Paphluvr (Sep 17, 2018)

You pretty much summed it up yourself. "I know much depends on relative humidity, light, seasons, dormant or active and a host of things." You also mentioned that some are in coarse mix and others in a finer mix. That's why watering on a "schedule" doesn't really work. Learn to judge your plants by the weight of the pots or use transluscent pots so you can see if they are in need of watering.


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## troy (Sep 17, 2018)

I use clear pots so I can see the roots, watering amount depends on the sub species requirements, I have new root growth by almost letting media dry before rewatering, thats under my conditions


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## lady slipper (Sep 17, 2018)

*When to Water*

Thank you all for your good responses to my (how often to water) quest.
I do have some of my pots in Clear Plastic and do like those and then I drop them often into a little bit larger pot to keep the heat off the root zone. I also have all my (approx) 65 orchids on a chart and I have a system that tells me when to water - not by 'my' schedule but more on pot size, media etc. Often I will make the choice to water a day sooner or latter depending on what I think the plant need is. I am serious about an orchids care. The uninitiated might think (water plants on Saturday) and that is it...easy... but it does't work that way if we want the plants to thrive and bloom.


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