Swapped from misting my orchids twice a day to full-on dunking them once a week

Used to spray my phalaenopsis like I was watering a fern, but after reading about their natural habitat in Taiwan I switched to submerging the pots for 10 minutes. Anyone else find that less fuss actually works better for these plants?

2 comments

2 Comments

harpery471d ago

Did you notice any shock or stress when you made the switch? I tried this with my oncidiums after reading about how they grow on mossy branches in the wild, and they started throwing out way more roots within a month. The key was making sure the bark mix was still chunky enough to drain fast after the soak.

the_emery1d ago

Swapped my phalaenopsis over to dunking about two years ago and never looked back. The first dunk I was nervous they'd rot, but I stuck to chunky bark and let them drain completely in the sink before putting them back. Within a few weeks the leaves got firmer and started putting out new roots like crazy. Misting always left me guessing if the center of the pot was getting wet, but dunking soaks everything even and then lets it breathe. My oncidiums took to it even faster, they went from three sorry little bulbs to a full pot in a season. Only thing I watch is not letting them sit in water after the soak, that's where people mess up.