Pro tip: Water your orchids with ice cubes and see what happens

I killed three orchids in a row over two years (rookie numbers, I know). Then my neighbor, who has like 50 orchids on her porch, told me to just drop 3 ice cubes on the soil once a week. I thought she was messing with me, but I tried it last March and my current orchid has been blooming for 6 months straight. Has anyone else tried this trick or am I just lucky with this particular plant?

3 comments

3 Comments

reesea4921h ago

Are you sure those orchids didn't die from something else though? I've been growing orchids for about 12 years now and I won't use ice cubes. The roots are tropical plants, they don't like cold shock, and I've seen too many people get root rot from the water pooling in the crown. I just soak the pot in room temp water for 10 minutes once a week and let it drain good, that's worked for me.

nguyen.tara20h ago

Did the ice cube method really save your orchid or is it just tough? I get where you're coming from though. My mom has that exact same philosophy, she soaks her orchids in the sink for 10 minutes once a week and wont touch ice cubes. But honestly, if it works for you and your neighbor's 50 orchids are thriving, maybe it's just one of those things that works for some setups and not others. I'd rather have a surviving orchid with ice cubes than three dead ones from overcomplicating it.

faith68420h ago

Honestly, did you actually check the roots before you switched methods or just assumed that was the fix?