Another technique I used to use was to pot up a couple of "nothings" in the
same pot, using the same medium (ie., no plant), and keep them in the same
conditions and under the same watering schedule.

When you think the medium in the plant might be ready to be rewatered, heft
the pot to see how much it weighs, then do so with a "blank" before dumping
it to see how good your guess was. After a few tries, you'll have it down,
then you can judge by the weight of the potted plant alone.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:aJd7f.12393$Io4.3648@trnddc06...
Walter,

This won't help you this time around, but next time when you repot an
orchid
into bark, if you use a transparent plastic pot, then you can observe when
there is no more moisture visible on the inside of the pot, and water
then.

Why did you repot this orchid into bark rather than into moss anyway? If
it
was doing well in moss, and you could tell when to water it in moss, it
would probably have been better to repot it into moss again. I am very bad
at telling when an orchid in bark needs watering (unless it's in a
transparent pot), and thus I try to repot as many of my Phals as possible
into moss.

Joanna

"Walter Whidden" wrote in message
...
I received a phalaenopsis last May as a gift. It is my first orchid. It
was rooted in moss and it bloomed all summer. When all the blooms were
done, I cut back the spikes and repotted the orchid in bark. When the
orchid was rooted in moss, it was fairly easy to determine the mosture
content, but bark is another story. Any advice on how to determine when
I
should water? Thanks for any help.