Photo: Ice cubes for orchids — Adam S. Keck · CC BY-SA 4.0. Photo cropped from the original.
Water
Ice cubes for orchids
MYTH
Three ice cubes once a week is the best way to water an orchid.
FACT
Ice watering was dreamed up by sellers to stop people overwatering. The American Orchid Society is against it: cold stresses the plant, and salts from the melted ice build up in the bark because nothing flushes them out.
What actually matters
- Room-temperature waterOrchids grown indoors come from the tropics. Ice-cold water can harm their roots.
- Water until it drainsPour until water runs out of the holes in the bottom, wait a few minutes, then do it again. The bark gets soaked through and the salts wash out.
- Once the bark is dryTouch the bark: dry – water; damp – wait. A dry pot feels lighter.
- Empty the outer potWithin half an hour of watering, check the outer pot or saucer and pour the water out: roots rot in standing water.
- If you still use iceIn a 4–6-month study at two universities the ice did no harm, but only one kind of orchid was tested: Phalaenopsis in bark. Put the ice on the bark, not on the leaves, and empty the outer pot.
Sources: American Orchid Society, Missouri Botanical Garden, Iowa State Extension, Ohio State University, RHS.