Fred Bergman, a local phal breeder, and sometimes contributor to Orchids and
other related publications, discovered recently that spraying water with a
little dish soap in it into the crown of the plant will allow water to drain
readily through the leaves ... the old surface tension principle. Do it
whenever the water stops draining from the crown.

As for keeping the leaves wet, etc., use a humidity tray for indoor growing
and find them a nice shady place outside as soon as nighttime temperatures
get consistently above 50 degrees. (Unless of course you live in the desert,
but you wouldn't have crown rot problems in he desert, would you?)

Mark

From: "boochap"
Organization: StarHub Internet Pte Ltd
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.orchids
Date: Fri, 11 Apr 2003 01:40:02 +0800
Subject: how do u water phal to avoid crown rot?

thanks!
my first phal die of crown rot....a lesson i'll not forget everytime i water
my 2nd phal.

wrote in message
...
When the ancient war dogs did battle on Sat, 5 Apr 2003 23:40:41
+0800, "boochap" did speak the following bit of
wisdom:

I keep my phal in a plastic pot with all the roots hidden under the
compost.
In this case, how doule u water or feed the plant to avoid crown rot?
just
spray mist to keep the leaves wet?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
That's exactly what you *don't* want to do. The water will drip down
into the crown of the plant and help to cause rot. If you want to be
extra safe, you should keep water off Phal leaves as much as possible.
The exception would be if you are watering first thing in the morning
and have excellent air flow all around the plants so they can quickly
dry off. There are tricks people use, like laying the pot on its side
or tilting it so water can run away from the crown of the plant. In
any case, you want the leaves to be dry by nightfall.

Just carefully water the actual orchid media and let all the water
drain out of the pot before you replace them in their usual place.
They shouldn't stand in water.
* * * * *
Karen C.
Southern CT / USDA Zone 6
Spammers be damned! I can't be emailed from this account...

"Gardeners know all the best dirt!"