Phrags: pot sit in water or not?

[Fan Tan Fannie]

I collect the rain water and store it in the plastic bottles that I saved. It is totally free. I water my phrag often so they don't sit in water. They seem to like it better. When I go travel, they will sit in shallow water.

 

[Noah Arthur]

Update on this situation: I tried sitting them in water for awhile, but their medium was constantly soggy wet, and the surface of one grew a coating of mold. So I discontinued sitting them in water and have been instead just watering them frequently. Maybe my humidity is too high for wet feet (hovers between high 50s and low 70s)?

 

[monocotman]

My humidity is 65-70% and they do fine sat in water. Being constantly soggy wet is fine for these hybrid phrags. They love it.
David

 

[richgarrison]

Update on this situation: I tried sitting them in water for awhile, but their medium was constantly soggy wet, and the surface of one grew a coating of mold. So I discontinued sitting them in water and have been instead just watering them frequently. Maybe my humidity is too high for wet feet (hovers between high 50s and low 70s)?

in the spirit of "what works for you works for you"

i stopped sitting mine in water and just water every day... awesome growth and root health... obviously your mix (root environment) and RH-air movement-temps-light (foliage environment) will affect what works as a combination...

i know of others that say "na... i don;t sit my plants in water. i just water them."

 

[monocotman]

I'm too lazy to water every day when I gets the results I do with just sitting them in water!
David

 

[richgarrison]

I'm too lazy to water every day when I gets the results I do with just sitting them in water!
David

exactly what works for you works for you...

watering everyday gets me to look at each plant every day...

I like being in the greenhouse... almost more than anywhere else

 

[monocotman]

Rich,
As I grow indoors I don’t need a reason to go look at my phrags. They are just sitting there! It’s one if the main reasons I grow indoors. I love having the plants next to me. I usually spend 15 mins at the end of the day communing it’s them before going to bed. It puts me in a good mood for the following day,
David

 

[BrucherT]

I collect the rain water and store it in the plastic bottles that I saved. It is totally free. I water my phrag often so they don't sit in water. They seem to like it better. When I go travel, they will sit in shallow water.

I use RO water with First Ray’s k-lite...every 3rd watering, I flush the pots by soaking for an hour in pure RO up to the rim, then running that pure RO through the pot, then running RO + 0.25 tsp/gallon water through, draining, them setting pot in around half an inch of pure RO. It’s important that they not sit in even a weak fertilizer solution; I was getting brown tips and yellowing when that would happen. Now I have really lush plants with no bad tips and fingers crossed I’m getting some buds (my Phrags are mostly rescue plants from an orchid show, single-growth postbloom weaklings, a couple high-quality besseae seedlings a year or more for from bloom. One P. besseae flavum in LECA.

 

[richgarrison]

Rich,
As I grow indoors I don’t need a reason to go look at my phrags. They are just sitting there! It’s one if the main reasons I grow indoors. I love having the plants next to me. I usually spend 15 mins at the end of the day communing it’s them before going to bed. It puts me in a good mood for the following day,
David

I totally get that... my watering routine is more like a daily checkup... then on my in the house after work i always enter via teh greenhouse and just enjoy looking around... decompressing from the day...

 

[monocotman]

It’s a mental support for me as well as helping me unwind. Although I work I am a carer when I get home as my partner had a stroke a few years ago. We get out but not as often as I would like,
David

 

[Silverwhisp]

A question for those of you who have your Phrags. sitting in water.

Once the water In the tray/saucer is gone, or almost gone, how long do you wait to drench the plant again with water? When I try sitting them in water, the plant is still quite heavy when the water is all soaked up.

Do you wait to water until it’s as light as it would be under a non-tray scheme, i.e., following a standard Phrag. watering plan?

 

[monocotman]

If the plant is saturated you can wait a couple of days before adding more water. It probably doesn’t matter that much.
David

 

[Silverwhisp]

Thanks, David. So you add water to the tray itself; not through the pot?

 

[monocotman]

No I add it through the pot so that it flushes the pot as well,
David

 

[Silverwhisp]

Great. Thank you.

 

[Reiner Stachel]

I have three phrags sitting in water and three phrags not sitting in water and if you would ask me which ones do better I would have to say they are performing the same in my opinion it doesn't make any difference

 

[Silverwhisp]

I have three phrags sitting in water and three phrags not sitting in water and if you would ask me which ones do better I would have to say they are performing the same in my opinion it doesn't make any difference

Interesting. Are they in the same media mix?

 

[Reiner Stachel]

Yes I have them all in 70% orchiata and 30% new Zealand spagnum

 

[Ray]

And in your growing conditions, how often do you water? A lot of folks are still hung up on "orchids needing to dry out between waterings" (hogwash), so the gross departure to that of letting a plant stay constantly moist via a tray might be a benefit.

Water is the driving force for growth. To gain 1 kg in mass - something that takes a few weeks for a corn plant, 2-3 years for a phrag, or a lifetime for a tiny pleurothallid, a plant must absorb and process only about 10-11 g of N-P-K fertilizer (95% N) but 180-200 kg of water.

 

[Reiner Stachel]

I water them once a week by soaking them in filtered water for ten minutes and give them half strength fertilizer (shultz) every second watering,starting 2 weeks ago I also have them under full spectrum glow lights. One which is a phrag. Geralda is in bloom as we speak