# Calling all Orchid enthusiast



## pirminiamac (Feb 4, 2018)

So! i came across Orchids reduced to just £1 from £10! with really nice pots too so I grabbed a couple.
I know they like humidity, I've left them in the plastic cover and stuck them on the bathroom window but what else do I need to know? Also do I repot or leave them root bound?


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## schmiggle (Feb 4, 2018)

There are 30,000 species of orchids, so we'll need to know what species these are to offer any specific care advice. Although to begin with, I would probably remove the plastic cover, since airflow is important, the bathroom has high humidity, and you need to get the orchid to acclimate to lower humidity anyway.

I wouldn't repot yet, it's probably already stressed and there's a good chance it doesn't need it. Many orchids prefer being underpotted anyway, due to their epiphytic habit in the wild.

If you don't know what species, post a picture and an ID might be possible.

Reactions: Helpful 1


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## pirminiamac (Feb 4, 2018)

Oh my bad! Orchid noob here. A species ID would be good

I know the pots a lil dry I will start misting as of tomorrow, the water is sitting out in a bucket overnight but my water comes out the tap very hard and leaves residue, do I need to do something about that?


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## schmiggle (Feb 4, 2018)

I wouldn't use water that's hard enough to leave a residue. You can water with bottled water, distill (that's difficult and I don't recommend it unless you're used to it), capture rainwater, or I think there are chemicals you can add to water to precipitate calcium carbonate.

Those are both Phalaenopsis hybrids, as I expected. They'll do ok in windowsill conditions--low but not dim lighting and ambient humidity. They'll probably be very happy in your bathroom, since they do like high humidity if they can get it. It doesn't look to me like they need repotting.


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## The Snark (Feb 4, 2018)

You should also take into account the incredible speed that orchids react and respond to various changes in environment. Along the lines of 3 or 4 months down the road it starts waving a red flag to signal it will be dead by Christmas if you don't do something.


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## schmiggle (Feb 4, 2018)

Oh, one other thing: by far the biggest killer of cultivated orchids is overwatering. Remember that they would dry out pretty quickly in the wild, given their epyphytic and lowland habitat. I'd water twice a week or so. If they do well for a couple of months, we can discuss fertilizer.


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## pirminiamac (Feb 7, 2018)

Thanks for the replies I'll do some more research now I know the sp and grab some bottled water. Thanks again!

Reactions: Like 1


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## schmiggle (Feb 8, 2018)

If you water with bottled water, you'll probably have to use a broader-spectrum fertilizer, since the water will be missing certain micronutrients. Just a heads up.

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Snark (Feb 8, 2018)

schmiggle said:


> If you water with bottled water, you'll probably have to use a broader-spectrum fertilizer, since the water will be missing certain micronutrients.


Yupsers. A lot of the orchid nurseries around here literally dip their plants in filthy canal water once a week. Abundant nitrogen and I'd rather not think about what else. The fertilizer use is only to promote and sustain blooming.

A Tommy Chong voice: "Hey dude, your plant just tested positive for e-coli, hepatitis, leptospirosis, giardia, ...."

Reactions: Like 1 | Funny 2


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## pirminiamac (Feb 10, 2018)

schmiggle said:


> If you water with bottled water, you'll probably have to use a broader-spectrum fertilizer, since the water will be missing certain micronutrients. Just a heads up.


True. So when I say leaves a residue I mean my ph straight from the tap is 7.5 - 8 I get a build up around the fishtank waterline after around a month, is this major?


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## The Snark (Feb 10, 2018)

pirminiamac said:


> So when I say leaves a residue I mean my ph straight from the tap is 7.5 - 8 I get a build up around the fishtank waterline after around a month, is this major?


What is the build up? Slimy organic material or hard crust that stubbornly refuses to scrub off? pH of 8 says it's loaded in minerals and the build up is scale.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## pirminiamac (Feb 11, 2018)

Well yh that's what I mean hard water mineral build up,,will this bother my Orchids? I usually gently wipe broad leaved plants that like a mist


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## schmiggle (Feb 11, 2018)

pirminiamac said:


> Well yh that's what I mean hard water mineral build up,,will this bother my Orchids? I usually gently wipe broad leaved plants that like a mist


Yeah, that's unlikely to be good for orchids or many other plants in the long run. It's really not a big deal, though--it just means you have to be more careful when choosing fertilizer.

Reactions: Like 1


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## The Snark (Feb 11, 2018)

schmiggle said:


> Yeah, that's unlikely to be good for orchids


I can't imagine how any orchids would ever be exposed to significant quantities of minerals in the wild. Their world is rainwater and purely organic materials. I would think the respirations of epiphytes would inevitably become inhibited by the presence  of the minerals.

Reactions: Like 1 | Agree 1


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## pirminiamac (Feb 11, 2018)

This orchids business isn't all that simple is it  Good points people! Thankyou. Would flushing with the bottled water every so often solve the build up problem? If not would using only bottled mean ferts everytime I water?


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## schmiggle (Feb 11, 2018)

pirminiamac said:


> This orchids business isn't all that simple is it  Good points people! Thankyou. Would flushing with the bottled water every so often solve the build up problem? If not would using only bottled mean ferts everytime I water?


First of all, I generally recommend fertilizing every day anyway, as long as your fertilizer is very diluted. An epiphytic orchid in the wild gets a relatively constant stream of dust, essentially, which is the source of its nutrients (with the exception of Bulbophyllum beccarii, which collects leaf litter). The closer you can get to small amounts of nutrients often, the less likely you are to cause damage and the more likely the plant is to be able to utilize the nutrients. Second, while flushing is something that works in general, I wouldn't recommend it for water with a pH as high as 8. That is really hard water that I would only really recommend for a plant from ultramafic soil (i.e., basic--there are plants that grow on pure gypsum, for example, or limestone, both of which have a high pH). Third, plants need the micronutrients in tapwater less often than they need the macronutrients in fertilizer, so if you choose not to fertilize ever day, you don't need to worry about your orchid not having enough micronutrients.

Reactions: Agree 1 | Informative 1


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## MetalMan2004 (Feb 11, 2018)

I only have one orchid myself and don’t have much to contribute but I’ve been following this.  

I always figured that bottled spring water would be better than distilled, just because it has the micronutrients without getting crazy with the ph.


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## pirminiamac (Feb 13, 2018)

*Ok* so I'm going to mist pretty sparingly everyday, bottled water with a diluted fert. I'm guessing ferts is a whole other mine field and I should grab any off the shelf orchid specific stuff for now. 

It's a good thread! Who knew that person with all the 'weird' pet bugs also grows beautiful orchids! This part of the forum is a lil slower than say T questions and discussions but there is some gold here 

Thanks again


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## schmiggle (Feb 13, 2018)

Honestly, don't worry about fertilizer yet if you don't feel good about it. The plant will be fine for a few months. 

MetalMan is probably right about spring water. 

Orchid marketed fertilizer is often identical to other fertilizer--it's just sold in smaller quantities at higher cost per weight. Don't spend money on it. Whenever you decide you want to deal with fertilizer, I just made a thread about how to work out how much and how often to fertilize (to some extent), and if that's overwhelming I'm also happy to offer simpler advice. But again, orchid fertilizer is not particularly better than any other fertilizer for orchids.

Misting every day sounds good. You should probably also water more thoroughly once or twice a week. I would err on the side of under-watering, since it's easier to see and fix. Drooping, wrinkling leaves usually mean under-watering, but root rot is invisible for a long time, and by the time you see it, my understanding is it's usually too late to save the plant.


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## pirminiamac (Feb 13, 2018)

I'm going to lean towards underwatering atm and ok I'll leave the ferts for now if it's not necessary, I will certainly pick your brains a few months down the line and check out your thread


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## Dovey (Mar 6, 2018)

schmiggle said:


> First of all, I generally recommend fertilizing every day anyway, as long as your fertilizer is very diluted. An epiphytic orchid in the wild gets a relatively constant stream of dust, essentially, which is the source of its nutrients (with the exception of Bulbophyllum beccarii, which collects leaf litter). The closer you can get to small amounts of nutrients often, the less likely you are to cause damage and the more likely the plant is to be able to utilize the nutrients. Second, while flushing is something that works in general, I wouldn't recommend it for water with a pH as high as 8. That is really hard water that I would only really recommend for a plant from ultramafic soil (i.e., basic--there are plants that grow on pure gypsum, for example, or limestone, both of which have a high pH). Third, plants need the micronutrients in tapwater less often than they need the macronutrients in fertilizer, so if you choose not to fertilize ever day, you don't need to worry about your orchid not having enough micronutrients.


I am not at all disagreeing with you regarding hard water not being ideal. That being said, before I purchased a distilling system for home use, every orchid I own (and there are many of all the major groups) lived off of the hardest, most alkali desert well water you can imagine--I'm talking off the chart as far as my pond and pool test kit are concerned, well above PH 10! And wouldn't you know it, the little blighters did great! Bloomed like blooming idiots! Actually did better  in my east-facing sonoran windowsill than they did in East Texas with lovely soft water and humid air. Go figure. Orchids can be a bit perverse. I'm sure there is quite a lot of buffering calcium carbonate or something along those lines in our well water, but I finally got tired of scraping and scrubbing white mineral stains off the sides of my terrariums and aquariums. Now they get 3/4 distilled, 1/4 well water. Still doing great.

I have found, however, that it really depends upon where you live and how you have potted up your orchids as to what is likely to kill them.  I've dried out a lot more orchids than I've ever drowned. For a long time I went with very rough chunk orchid medium and classic orchid pots with lots of holes. Too effective a drainage system! This does not do well in the South or Southwest if one tends to water once or twice a week, as I do. Now I use a much finer chunk medium and give them a really good drenching, even letting some water sit in the bottom for an hour before I drain it out. I've done much better with "containers within containers," such as you have, than I ever did with the classical Orchid pots, which allow all the moisture to drain out of the bottom or evaporate out of the sides. I love my traditional Orchid pots, but I've gone back and lined them all with water-resistant burlap. No losses since I limited the drainage somewhat.

Reactions: Informative 2


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## schmiggle (Mar 6, 2018)

Dovey said:


> I am not at all disagreeing with you regarding hard water not being ideal. That being said, before I purchased a distilling system for home use, every orchid I own (and there are many of all the major groups) lived off of the hardest, most alkali desert well water you can imagine--I'm talking off the chart as far as my pond and pool test kit are concerned, well above PH 10! And wouldn't you know it, the little blighters did great! Bloomed like blooming idiots! Actually did better  in my east-facing sonoran windowsill than they did in East Texas with lovely soft water and humid air. Go figure. Orchids can be a bit perverse. I'm sure there is quite a lot of buffering calcium carbonate or something along those lines in our well water, but I finally got tired of scraping and scrubbing white mineral stains off the sides of my terrariums and aquariums. Now they get 3/4 distilled, 1/4 well water. Still doing great.


That is very interesting, and good to know. There are many orchids adapted to hypermafic soils, but the chances that all of yours were by coincidence are quite low.


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## The Snark (Mar 7, 2018)

A pH above 10 isn't water, it's caustic solution. Don't know about orchids but with water like that your half way there to raising blue-green algae.


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## Dovey (Mar 7, 2018)

The Snark said:


> A pH above 10 isn't water, it's caustic solution. Don't know about orchids but with water like that your half way there to raising blue-green algae.


Tell me about it! My koi would go into shock if they actually experienced neutral water. Blue green algae is a constant enemy, and only a good  ultraviolet filter has kept them well! You ought to see this salty, chalky sludge that comes out of my distilling system when the water has boiled through. There honestly must be an awful lot of buffer in the form of natural calcium carbonate or some such thing for fish and plants to be able to survive with the alkalinity of the water that comes out of our well.


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## The Snark (Mar 7, 2018)

Your well is probably sitting on or has penetrated a dome. It would be interesting to have the water tested. CaCo3 and manganese comes to mind.
How about kissing off the fish, upping the pH and raising blue green? Strong demand for the stuff as a nutritional supplement. 

A friend of mine near here had well water on a maganese bearing clay dome. Chewed his pipes to shreds. Water dripping out of the walls, buying a new pump every 6 months.

Are you on an alluvial plane?


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## Dovey (Mar 8, 2018)

Nope. Sonoran Desert foothills. We probably ought to get our well checked. Some people in the area have pulled up a lot of arsenic from their Wells. As to tearing up pipes and so forth, we just replaced the guts of a Pool Spa that  was only a few years old. The repairman said high levels of chlorine had torn it up. I wonder if it was actually the alkalinity of our water?


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## The Snark (Mar 8, 2018)

Dovey said:


> The repairman said high levels of chlorine had torn it up.


Chlorine will do that. Both corrode and oxidize. My bet is a dome. Which pretty much means you're stuck with that water. If you get the culprit identified you can take measures to mitigate it. Ion chambers, chemical treatment, membranes and so forth. But all are costly. You definitely want to rule out arsenic and certain other metals.


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