For years, I could not find the proper tool to tamper my media down around my plants during re-potting season. Then I found this Waldor potting stick that are 12" long and tapered at one end to help work the media around the roots of the plant and are made of a high strength fiberglass resin and very durable with a comfortable handle that will fit in your palm that will help speed up your potting chores.

They also have the same weight and balance as the antique potting sticks we use at our greenhouse. These potting sticks are must have item if you do a lot of re-potting. Made of a professional grade high strength fiberglass resin and very durable they do not crack or chip. Water-resistant for durable and long lasting wear. Also making it easy to disinfect and clean. They are lightweight and sturdy and tapered at one end to tamp down Mix or soil around base of a plant.

I personally prefer the taper to be a little thinner at the edge but overall the comfortable felt great in my hand. If you do a lot of re-potting of orchid plants and other household plants I would recommend giving this item a try.

Holiday Flowers for Years to Come

During the Holiday Seasons, we are all so busy, that it becomes just another thing we have to do, if we have to go out and buy decorations for the Holidays. While Phaleanopsis, Cymbidiums and some Dendrobiums flower when cold induced and Oncidiums, Paphiopedilums and Evergreen Dendrobiums flower when their new growth matures, their blooming seasons are not dependable or always predictable. Cattleyas, on the other hand, have a photo period, meaning, they flower on a certain length of daylight. So when you buy a Cattleya that has just opened, next year's flowers should start to open, within a two week window of the previous year’s blooms. Other factors such as supplemental lights (even an incandescent bulb nearby), temperature and whether we have several cloudy weeks contribute to the two week time frame. Buying Cattleyas now, will provide beautiful Holiday decorations for years to come, during the same Seasonal time period.

Temperature and Humidity

Normal home temperatures are fine for growing most orchids. Temperatures of 70-80 degrees in the daytime and 60-70 degrees at night are ideal. Always keep plants away from hot or cold drafts.

Many orchids, like phalaenopsis, need a drop in temperature for several weeks during the fall to set their flower spikes. This is accomplished by moving them outdoors or opening the window in which they are growing when the outside night temperature is in the mid to upper 50’s. Cymbidiums like to grow outside during the summer with plenty of light and fertilizer. They require a 20-30 degree drop in temperature in the late fall to set their flower spikes. So leave them outside until danger of frost.

If you have trouble growing cool or intermediate orchids, consider growing them in your basement under lights. Beware of cooling your orchids using an air conditioner as they remove humidity from the air and may cause the flowers to wilt. A good level of humidity in winter can be attained by running a humidifier or by putting humidity trays under your plants. Feel free to spray your orchids with a mister on any sunny day to increase the humidity level.

American Orchid Society says Virtually all orchids do best when humidity ranges from 40% to 70%. Even those that are adapted to growing under rather desert like conditions such as Zelenkoa (Oncidium) onusta are exposed to periods when the humidity is in this range. In this particular example, the species flourishes in coastal deserts where breezes from the pacific bring nightly dues and resultant relatively high humidity even though it may not rain for long periods.

Investing in an inexpensive humidity gauge is a necessity for all but the smallest collection if you want to grow orchids well. In virtually all parts of the United States outside of Hawaii and Puerto Rica, at some part of the year, it will be necessary to add supplemental humidity to the growing area. In some parts of the country such as the South and Southeast, humidity during the summer months will be adequate to even excessive while winter humidity levels may be too low, especially following strong cold fronts. In the Pacific Northwest, the situation may well be reversed with humid, cool winters and relatively low humidity during the warmer summer months. If you grow your plants in areas where supplemental heating is a requirement such heat sources dry out the air making humidity measurements critical. Having a simple humidity gauge takes the guesswork out of the growing area. Also keep in mind that humidity is usually highest at night and lowest during the afternoon peak of sunlight and warmth.

Ice Cube Orchids on orchids?

 There have been a plethora of "ice cube orchids" readily available at mainstream grocery stores that claim to only need an ice cube to be maintained. It is recommended that you use room-temperature filtered water to water your plant with, and that you soak the orchid's root systems and bark entirely when you do, straining out the excess water so that there's no chance for water to gather. Putting a freezing cube of ice onto your orchid's delicate roots is pretty rough, and definitely won't promote the general health of your orchid Here and article from Oregon Orchid Society  

ICE ON YOUR ORCHID?
At our many informational talks at local nurseries, we’ve had an increasing number of questions about whether or not it’s a good idea to put ice on your orchids to water them. Because all of the people that asked this question had dead orchids after they attempted to do this, we felt that it was an important enough issue to address before talking about general orchid culture.If you want our basic advice regarding, “Should I water my orchids with ice?” here it is: “No”. Orchids that are sold with this advice are grown in mass quantities in greenhouses the size of football fields. These orchids, to save costs, are potted in the least expensive “pots” possible which have little to no drainage. Furthermore, they are planted in dense moss which is conducive to being grown in these large greenhouses where they are misted every few hours rather than watered. You may have heard that the main way people kill orchids is by overwatering them. This is really not true! Orchids that are potted in the proper media, with well draining pots, will have the wet-dry cycle that they want. In the cheap pots and dense moss that comes with mass-produced orchids even minimal watering makes the pot become overly soggy and will kill the orchid in short order. The ice cube idea is to provide minimal water in the orchid’s suboptimal conditions. The problem is, even though this might mimic the amount of water that the orchid had in their upbringing, misted hourly in mass greenhouses, over time the plant will die from being cramped in suboptimal conditions. If you want to keep your orchid alive for years, the solution is regular watering with room-temperature water after repotting the orchid into proper orchid mix (usually bark) and a good, well-draining pot.
If you’d like to ruminate further on orchids and ice, below are a few more thoughts on the matter…

The idea of putting ice on orchids seems very counterintuitive. After all, Phalaenopsis orchids, the main orchid being promoted to enjoy ice-water culture, are from Southeast Asia – an area that has probably not seen ice since the last Ice Age. It is important to know the reasons that ice-watering is being plugged before examining whether or not it’s a good or bad idea.

These are the reasons that we heard for watering Phalaenopsis with ice cubes:

1. Overwatering is the primary way people kill orchids but using a few ice cubes prevents this.
2. Freezing water kills bacteria, so the water in ice cubes is pure.
3. Watering with ice-temperature water will give the Phalaenopsis the “cool drop” that it needs to set a new bloom.

While we aren’t prepared to say that watering with ice cubes will definitely benefit or harm your Phalaenopsis, we should examine each of these points individually.

“ICE CUBES PREVENT OVERWATERING”
It is very, very true that overwatering is the most common way that people kill their orchids, but it’s important to define “overwatering” properly. Epiphytic (tree-growing) orchids thrive on humid air. They live in very humidified (and warm) tropical rainforests. When we water orchids that are planted in bark, the point is not to wet the roots (though that is unavoidable, and not a bad thing). Instead, we are aiming to wet the bark that will then, as the water evaporates, create humid spaces in which the orchid’s roots will suck up moisture. Thoroughly drenching the bark (or whatever media you’re using) will provide that humidity until the next time you water. Where people go wrong and truly “overwater” their orchids is by keeping their orchids wet all the time. Orchids don’t want their roots to be soaking in water. They like humidity, not wet – and constant wetness WILL rot the roots.

The first concern with ice cubes is that a few ice cubes once a week would not create that drenched-bark humidity that will emulate a tropical forest for a week’s time. The drenching method has been espoused by experienced orchid-growers with great success for years. If you choose to take your Phalaenopsis to the sink and drench it once a week, letting it dry slightly before re-watering, you should see the same success that these people have seen for years.

Phalaenopsis (and other orchids of the Vandaceous or Cypripedium alliances) are monopodial which means that their new growth emerges on top of the last growth. This growth pattern creates a divot atop the plant in the leaf axils that can collect water in a small pool. Another watering-related way that many people kill Phalaenopsis is to get water in that spot, which rots the plant very quickly. The watering of an orchid with ice would prevent this orchid-death as the ice would presumably be placed on the bark and not on top of the plant. If you are watering your Phalaenopsis (with water, not ice), be sure to water all around the plant and not on top of the plant. If you do get some water in the leaf axils, give the top of the plant a quick and strong burst of breath to blow the water out or use a paper towel to wick up the moisture.

So the conclusion is that overwatering may be solved by watering with ice, but simply not watering until the Phalaenopsis is almost dry and avoiding getting water into the leaf axils works just fine.

“USING FROZEN WATER KILLS BACTERIA IN THE WATER”
Some bacteria will be killed by freezing water but most will not. Boiling water would kill all bacteria, but putting boiling water on your orchid will DEFINITELY kill it. Most bacteria that 

affects orchids comes from other plants or from us, not the water. Certainly municipal water should be almost completely devoid of bacteria (cities typically report on this). Using ice water to water your tropical plants for the sake of avoiding bacteria contamination is not necessary.

“WATERING WITH ICE WILL TRIGGER BLOOMING”
This is one of the most interesting supports of ice-watering. It is true that some (not all) Phalaenopsis, and a number of other orchids, use seasonal cool drops to know when to bloom. It may very well be true that cooling the roots will trigger blooming – especially with Phalaenopsis that are sensitive to root temperature.

That said, constantly “triggering” your orchid to bloom could be detrimental. Some of the larger orchid growers use stress to bring orchids to blooming in order to sell them (unblooming orchids don’t sell nearly as well). When buying an orchid from a large grower, you should always consider that it may already be relatively stressed – so DECREASING the stress is always the best idea. Orchids use lots of energy to bloom. Triggering orchids to bloom over and over, whether with ice cubes or any other stressor, can cause an orchid to stress itself to death…literal death.

The bottom line is that, if you want to experiment with using ice cubes to water your orchid you should know that it is, at the very least, unconventional – and that many years have passed with people watering orchids in conventional ways with great success as long as they avoid the aforementioned pitfalls. Also, being that most orchids grow in tropical conditions, their desired water temperature is tepid – so DO NOT let the ice directly touch the roots. Ice placed directly on any part of an orchid will damage the cells and damaged plant parts can lead to secondary infections that will cause even more problems.

Fall Staking and Grooming

As many plants are starting to send up flower spikes and flowering growths this time of year, it is important to stake any wayward wanderers. A properly groomed plant can be the difference of jumping up to the next ribbon on the show table. Flower spikes that are trained early will present the flowers more naturally in the proper position. Be sure when staking immature spikes and growths that you are careful not to secure them too tightly to the stake. Most spikes and active growth continue to stretch (the entire spike/growth moves, not just the tip) and if it is tied too tightly, it can become deformed or even break the spike/growth off.