On 17/7/07 10:24, in article ,
"johngood ............." wrote:
"Sacha" wrote in message
. uk...
snip An orchid grower at a show recently told me always to water from
the
bottom,
roughly once every ten days and never, ever to allow the plant to stand in
water. I think this might be your problem. Most plants don't like to
have
their roots permanently wet but like to drain and start to dry out between
waterings. We went on holiday for 5 days and came back to find that some
'kind soul' had watered my two precious Anna Green orchids and left them
standing in water. Every single flower turned yellow, died and fell off,
even though I dried out the compost and re-potted them. The plants are
now
in the propagating house where I'm hoping and praying they'll be happier
and
drier and will flower again some time.
--
Sacha
Sacha thanks. i know plants dont like their feet permanently wet, and the
collected pool of water does not touch the pot above. how does one water
from the bottom? stand in a saucer i guess but for how long?
Before reading your post above, I was looking up on watering orchids. The
sites I found say water from above! Naturally, why should things be simple,
after all ?! However, they emphasise watering rarely and allowing total
drainage before putting them back in their ceramic containers. One site
remarks that if water is allowed to collect in the bottom of the container,
its evaporation will keep the compost too wet. They also say that it's
important not to let water collects on the leaves and run down to the stems
because then they rot. That is why 'my' grower told me to water from the
bottom and he was right, IME. Previous orchids I've had which I've watered
from the top have always gradually died back as the stems turned brown! I
left my Anna Green standing in water for about 40 minutes, then I stood them
over the drain hole of the sink to allow completely free drainage. Up until
we went on holiday they were doing beautifully! If I can find or remember
the name of the nursery I bought them from I'll contact them. There's also
an orchid grower near here so I'll pop in there one of these days.
--
Sacha
http://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'