This video saved my orchids! I am new to orchids and was feeling like a bad plant mum as noticed that some of the roots where hardening/blackening within a month of getting them. I looked on (London)Thames water website and it said the average is 8-8.5ph (Oooofff!) And is considered hard-very hard. Purchased a water distiller the next day, my orchids are much happier already! They greened up so much and new roots and shoots are already noticeable within just a few weeks! Thanks Danni 🎉
Great coverage of the water topic! Don't forget a pinch of vitamin C powder can dechlorinate 5 gallons of tap water, even removing chloramine in less than 30 minutes. About aquarium water, it will also contain nitrate (a form of absorbable nitrogen) from fish waste... great for orchids! I soak my water culture orchids in the waste water for an hour, including the arial roots with good effect, sometimes I even soak them directly in the fish tank. Just watch that you remove all snails! 🌱
There is a product, available from Aquaria shops, which sets the water at 6.5pH no matter if the water treated is very soft or very hard has a low or high pH it stets it at this number. I've tried it with no problems. Ed.
Eds Orchids Is it a distiller? I know distillation removes minerals, but includes carbon dioxide, which means the water becomes slightly acidic. What's the name of the product? I'd like to look it up! Thanks.
You very briefly mentioned well water. I have well water at home (it's very hard), but I have a water softener that totally changes the water. I have currently using tap water and not my well water, but will probably we switching over with to using the well water. Well water varies so, so much. I'm sure the best thing to do is to have my well water tested so I know exactly what is in my well water and then decide if it is suitable to use or not. Good video!!!
I just recently purchased the same tools you have And my city water is surprisingly in medium soft and I add a little bit of white vinegar to bring down ph. Plants are happy so far.
Hello, thank you for the this video and all the other very useful and interesting video. I have a few tips for your consideration ( I am writing very fast, so sorry for typos and not perfect English sentenecs). The tips come mostly from my hobby with planted aquariums. The PH that matters is the one around the roots. So, measuring the PH of the water + fertilisers is a starting point, not the end of the story. I think that the right PH around Orchids roots is generally accepted to be around 6.0, right? So, I tell you what I do. First, I use lava rock as medium in the pot. I make it quite dense by splitting it as needed in smaller pieces of about 2 cm diameter each. Then I immerse completely up to the top the lava rock pot (with the orchid inside! ;-) in a slightly bigger pot where the water +fertilisers are mixed in a solution (with a TDS not higher than 500 ppm not too make it too concentrated). I leave it soaked there for at least 12 hours. When I get it out I measure the PH of the water + fertlysers in the slightly bigger pot after those 12+ hours. And it is that very water that has to have a PH around 6.0! To get to that PH, I have to start with a solution (i.e. water + fertlyzer) that ranges for me between PH 5.0 to 7.0 as each lava rock pot and orchids is slightly different from the others. After a few watering you know what is the starting PH you need to get to a PH of 6.0 for each pot. Now a few considerations trying to anticipate possible comments and questions: 1) Why lava rock? With lava rock you cannot overwater as the water is not retained other that the one that is absorbed by the lava rock and which is a very good thing to keep the root humid and ventilated but not soaked at all! In addition, I can safely use fertlysrers on the high dose side boosting growth and blooming , because there is no accumulation of salts; Another big advantage for me is that even smaller pots become heavy enough with lava rock to be stable and afford long sticks for the flowers. 2) Why 12+ hours soak? Because the roots of the orchids keep absorbing water and nutrients even up to 48 hours or more! They grow bigger and bigger like a sponge. And the lava rock permits excellent aeration after this long soaking period, avoiding any problems. Using instead the typical medium 12+ hours could become easily a problem...And last but not least, I suggest to buy the pure dry fertlyzers for aquarium plants. They are pure, cost less, last for years and you can mix them as you like. They give me 100% flexibility. Usually I water once per week. On one week I dose Ca(NO3)2 +MG(NO3)2 + KHPO4 + KNO3 to get roughly to a solution of: N=130 ppm; Ca=80 ppm; Mg 30 ppm; P=20 ppm; K=150ppm. The next week I dose micronutrients with Easilfe Profito + K2SO4 to add the Sulphur. Yes, of course I use RO water as here in the Netherlands the PH is 8,4 and KH is about 10. Far too high for orchids, not to mention that Sodium is also on the high side 60 ppm! If I need to lower the PH of the solution I add ascorbic acid (yes, vitamin C !). If I have to increase it...of course my tap water. I can share more details if you are interested. Cheers, Davide
Hi Danni, hope you’re well my tap-water PH is 7.5 , should I use my ph down acid to lower the ph every time I water my orchids or how often should I use my ph down acid ? Thanks 🙏
Hi Danni! I am thankful for your help with orchid care. I have a Phal and I don't know what type it is. It has white petals and a white and yellow lip with small purple spots on the inside of the lip. Do you know what type of Phal this is? Thanks!
Hi thanks so much for such an imformative video! I have realized I have been doing the wrong thing for my orchid. So I am going to change the water I use. Anyway, I am needing advice. I am trying to figure out what I should do with my orchids for vacation this summer. I don't really have anyone who can be trusted to understand and water them correctly. I have a phalanopsis hybrid and a dendrobium comet king akatsuki (valentines gift from hubby). I was thinking about changing them over to seramis in a plastic pot since they grow in my living room and wouldn't be affected by our lowish temperatures (5 - 13c) in winter here in the north west of france. Then for the summer vacation i thought I would put them in semi-hydroponics with the seramis what do you think? Do you think this would work or be too detrimental to my plants for 3 to 4 weeks? this would eliminate all judgemenet on the part of a caretaker. If the water got too low, it just needs to be topped up to the line I will draw on the container. NO questions asked. But I am unsure as I am SOOOOOOO new at all this! Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Worked for an environmental lab where water and soils were tested. Although I understand the pH and other aspects of H2O I'd still like to know if I can use bottled water without going through the chemistry process. Thank you Testing kits...there's an answer. City testing. Thank you. Hopefully it will be adequate for my cat also.......
dhart1951 when I still used tap water I would add some drops of lemon juice to drop the pH. But you need some way to test it and check you didn't add too much. This shouldn't be used more than a few drops as we don't want to have organic compounds in the water.
I have quite basic water (pH is 9.3!) so I add about 1/4 tsp of white vinegar to a gallon of water to bring id down to about 6.5. However, the more dissolved solids you have, the more acid it might take to bring the pH down, so it's really important to measure before and after and add acid a very little bit at a time.
I'm watching this cuz I've been using tap water where I used to use aquafina Anyway the air roots or whatever you call them are looking like they're cracking up and I'm wondering if it's from the chemicals... Always more information than I'll ever use
Great video! :D Just to add, rainwater contains hydrogen peroxide which is used as a disinfectant. But alas pollution is a problem... Aquarium water is a risk I think, there are always some kinds of nematodes and you may be in a world of trouble. Recently I have been fighting with a parasitic nematode that attacks rhizomes of anubias plants. The nematode also kills banana trees and potatoes... basically anything with a thick root system.
shinrin777 That's pretty scary! I use aquarium waste water to soak and also water all my orchids. So far the only creatures I've seen on them are snails which I put back in the tank... unlike terrestial snails, water snails only eat rotting or damaged plant tissue. Hope you get your nematode situation straightened out! 🌱
Nematodes are in all aquariums no matter what you do, your population may be small, so you don't see them, also snails like to eat them and therefore the population is under control. You only got a problem if you get the parasitic ones... which are hard or impossible to kill... >.< Thanks! The issue with anubias rot is not widely known, and it first looks like a nutrient deficiency, which you try to combat without results and the anubias plants keep "melting" and when you find out what's wrong, it's too late... Sellers also keep this under wrap and may sell contaminated cuttings which look healthy but aren't... so best quarantine the newly purchased plants for like 2-3 months just to be sure... ~just for your info
shinrin777 Thanks, Shirin! I have one tank with anubis on driftwood, and it's doing well. the rest of my tanks are heavily planted with a variety of plants. You can see my tanks (and violets/orchids) on Instagram, I'm there as Mzzchief. Do you have an IG account with your tanks and orchids?
shinrin777 Hi, I saw you joined Instagram, YAY, I left some comments there using Direct Messaging since this is Dani's account, and we should really stay on the topic she introduced! haha See you on IG ! 🌱
shinrin777 Hi, I saw you joined Instagram, YAY, I left some comments there using Direct Messaging since this is Dani's account, and we should really stay on the topic she introduced! haha See you on IG 🌱
My tap water is a tad too hard and too alkaline, but I got quite lucky. I found a very cheap brand of bottled water that has 20-40 ppm and around 6.5 pH, wich I found to be ideal given that distilled water can be quite expensive. Also the slight content in Mg and Ca can be beneficial for the orchids. In case anybody is interested, I live in Spain and I found said brand at Lidl. I looked into every supermarket to check what brands they had.
Hi, do you still use this bottled water you mentioned? Would it be possible for you to tell me what this brand is? I've been looking everywhere for low TDS in bottled water but have been finding this a difficult task!
I got a phalaenopsis for valentines day and its roots were rotten, and my mini rose plants had parasites that killed the buds. I cut the roots and replanted it in bark and cut the buds off and washed them, threw out the pots and started over 😞 I was so heart broken I have orchid food that promotes blooming but how often do I feed it?
Hi Danny, I've just realised that the middle button on the TDS meter is for measuring the temperature of the water LOL ... I'm sure you knew this already though!
So the American Orchid Society is saying not to use distilled water, so who is correct? I want to do the right thing by my orchids, but so many contradictory opinions about orchids. Please anyone on this site if you can enlighten me it would help. I know Miss Orchid doesn't answer questions here, but help from others are welcome. Thank you!
@@MissOrchidGirl no he's right I came to this video cause I wanted to see what kind of water to use AOS does say to not use salt soften water (what I have) and distilled water as well
Hi Danni, I love your Video's a lot. Do you have to play the music in the background? It drives me nuts. I will suffer through it to listen to what you have to say but I wish there was a button to push to have no music. LOL. Other than that keep up the good work.
...Uhm, I use the day-old cats water... Of course, it's chlorine-free spring water from the local mountains (pampered cats!), but other than that, it's not special at all.
Danni could you give a first time orchid owner advice? I got it as a Valentine's gift. at the end of the week I did my first watering with room temp tap water, let it soak in a pot for a few minutes and then drained. since then a few buds look blasted but i also forgot go open my blinds when I went to work a few days last week so it wasn't super bright inside. Will i still get a chance to see the larger buds bloom? I have new bark and am ready to add extra holes, but should I wait for the larger buds to bloom? I know phals are hardier I just wanted your opinion if it will just get worse (the bud blast, roots seem just ok) so it needs help now or if it's ok to wait if it doesn't look too sick? tinypic.com/r/2a0nf29/9
In my experience, drop in light is the most common reason for a healthy plant to bud blast or have premature flower drop. I bet forgetting to open the blinds is what did it. I've had perfectly happy orchids blooming that dropped their flowers after I watered and put them back on the shelf just a few inches further from the light source. You might not lose the rest of the buds, just remember to give the orchid as much light as possible without direct sunshine. I know you asked Dani, but if it were me I would wait to repot and enjoy whatever blooms your orchid has left. Unless you obviously have rotting roots or something, enjoy your flowers and repot when it's done blooming :)
This video saved my orchids! I am new to orchids and was feeling like a bad plant mum as noticed that some of the roots where hardening/blackening within a month of getting them. I looked on (London)Thames water website and it said the average is 8-8.5ph (Oooofff!) And is considered hard-very hard. Purchased a water distiller the next day, my orchids are much happier already! They greened up so much and new roots and shoots are already noticeable within just a few weeks! Thanks Danni 🎉
Great coverage of the water topic! Don't forget a pinch of vitamin C powder can dechlorinate 5 gallons of tap water, even removing chloramine in less than 30 minutes. About aquarium water, it will also contain nitrate (a form of absorbable nitrogen) from fish waste... great for orchids! I soak my water culture orchids in the waste water for an hour, including the arial roots with good effect, sometimes I even soak them directly in the fish tank. Just watch that you remove all snails! 🌱
There is a product, available from Aquaria shops, which sets the water at 6.5pH no matter if the water treated is very soft or very hard has a low or high pH it stets it at this number.
I've tried it with no problems.
Ed.
Eds Orchids Is it a distiller? I know distillation removes minerals, but includes carbon dioxide, which means the water becomes slightly acidic. What's the name of the product? I'd like to look it up! Thanks.
TDS stands for Total dissolved solids, and not total dissolved salts. it's a big difference. .....
Jörgen Jönsson you are right sir.
You very briefly mentioned well water. I have well water at home (it's very hard), but I have a water softener that totally changes the water. I have currently using tap water and not my well water, but will probably we switching over with to using the well water. Well water varies so, so much. I'm sure the best thing to do is to have my well water tested so I know exactly what is in my well water and then decide if it is suitable to use or not. Good video!!!
Thanks so much for this explanatory video 👍
I just recently purchased the same tools you have And my city water is surprisingly in medium soft and I add a little bit of white vinegar to bring down ph. Plants are happy so far.
Hello, thank you for the this video and all the other very useful and interesting video. I have a few tips for your consideration ( I am writing very fast, so sorry for typos and not perfect English sentenecs). The tips come mostly from my hobby with planted aquariums. The PH that matters is the one around the roots. So, measuring the PH of the water + fertilisers is a starting point, not the end of the story. I think that the right PH around Orchids roots is generally accepted to be around 6.0, right?
So, I tell you what I do. First, I use lava rock as medium in the pot. I make it quite dense by splitting it as needed in smaller pieces of about 2 cm diameter each. Then I immerse completely up to the top the lava rock pot (with the orchid inside! ;-) in a slightly bigger pot where the water +fertilisers are mixed in a solution (with a TDS not higher than 500 ppm not too make it too concentrated). I leave it soaked there for at least 12 hours. When I get it out I measure the PH of the water + fertlysers in the slightly bigger pot after those 12+ hours. And it is that very water that has to have a PH around 6.0! To get to that PH, I have to start with a solution (i.e. water + fertlyzer) that ranges for me between PH 5.0 to 7.0 as each lava rock pot and orchids is slightly different from the others. After a few watering you know what is the starting PH you need to get to a PH of 6.0 for each pot.
Now a few considerations trying to anticipate possible comments and questions: 1) Why lava rock? With lava rock you cannot overwater as the water is not retained other that the one that is absorbed by the lava rock and which is a very good thing to keep the root humid and ventilated but not soaked at all! In addition, I can safely use fertlysrers on the high dose side boosting growth and blooming , because there is no accumulation of salts; Another big advantage for me is that even smaller pots become heavy enough with lava rock to be stable and afford long sticks for the flowers. 2) Why 12+ hours soak? Because the roots of the orchids keep absorbing water and nutrients even up to 48 hours or more! They grow bigger and bigger like a sponge. And the lava rock permits excellent aeration after this long soaking period, avoiding any problems. Using instead the typical medium 12+ hours could become easily a problem...And last but not least, I suggest to buy the pure dry fertlyzers for aquarium plants. They are pure, cost less, last for years and you can mix them as you like. They give me 100% flexibility. Usually I water once per week. On one week I dose Ca(NO3)2 +MG(NO3)2 + KHPO4 + KNO3 to get roughly to a solution of: N=130 ppm; Ca=80 ppm; Mg 30 ppm; P=20 ppm; K=150ppm. The next week I dose micronutrients with Easilfe Profito + K2SO4 to add the Sulphur. Yes, of course I use RO water as here in the Netherlands the PH is 8,4 and KH is about 10. Far too high for orchids, not to mention that Sodium is also on the high side 60 ppm! If I need to lower the PH of the solution I add ascorbic acid (yes, vitamin C !). If I have to increase it...of course my tap water.
I can share more details if you are interested.
Cheers,
Davide
Thanks for the video. Miss Orchids do you use the same water to watering your African violets ? Thanks
Hello! I saw the bottle of water is in Greek, where are you located? I am in Cyprus. Excellent channel
Hi Danni, hope you’re well
my tap-water PH is 7.5 , should I use my ph down acid to lower the ph every time I water my orchids or how often should I use my ph down acid ? Thanks 🙏
Hi, 7.5 sounds great, especially if you use organic potting mix :)
Nice piece of advice
Hi Danni! I am thankful for your help with orchid care. I have a Phal and I don't know what type it is. It has white petals and a white and yellow lip with small purple spots on the inside of the lip. Do you know what type of Phal this is? Thanks!
Hi thanks so much for such an imformative video! I have realized I have been doing the wrong thing for my orchid. So I am going to change the water I use. Anyway, I am needing advice. I am trying to figure out what I should do with my orchids for vacation this summer. I don't really have anyone who can be trusted to understand and water them correctly. I have a phalanopsis hybrid and a dendrobium comet king akatsuki (valentines gift from hubby). I was thinking about changing them over to seramis in a plastic pot since they grow in my living room and wouldn't be affected by our lowish temperatures (5 - 13c) in winter here in the north west of france. Then for the summer vacation i thought I would put them in semi-hydroponics with the seramis what do you think? Do you think this would work or be too detrimental to my plants for 3 to 4 weeks? this would eliminate all judgemenet on the part of a caretaker. If the water got too low, it just needs to be topped up to the line I will draw on the container. NO questions asked. But I am unsure as I am SOOOOOOO new at all this! Any thoughts would be appreciated!
Worked for an environmental lab where water and soils were tested. Although I understand the pH and other aspects of H2O I'd still like to know if I can use bottled water without going through the chemistry process. Thank you
Testing kits...there's an answer. City testing. Thank you.
Hopefully it will be adequate for my cat also.......
Can I use purified water?
Another great subject! If the pH needs to be adjusted up or down do you have recommendations on techniques? for just a few liters at a time? thanks.
dhart1951 when I still used tap water I would add some drops of lemon juice to drop the pH. But you need some way to test it and check you didn't add too much. This shouldn't be used more than a few drops as we don't want to have organic compounds in the water.
I have quite basic water (pH is 9.3!) so I add about 1/4 tsp of white vinegar to a gallon of water to bring id down to about 6.5. However, the more dissolved solids you have, the more acid it might take to bring the pH down, so it's really important to measure before and after and add acid a very little bit at a time.
I'm watching this cuz I've been using tap water where I used to use aquafina
Anyway the air roots or whatever you call them are looking like they're cracking up and I'm wondering if it's from the chemicals...
Always more information than I'll ever use
Great video! :D
Just to add, rainwater contains hydrogen peroxide which is used as a disinfectant. But alas pollution is a problem...
Aquarium water is a risk I think, there are always some kinds of nematodes and you may be in a world of trouble. Recently I have been fighting with a parasitic nematode that attacks rhizomes of anubias plants. The nematode also kills banana trees and potatoes... basically anything with a thick root system.
shinrin777 That's pretty scary! I use aquarium waste water to soak and also water all my orchids. So far the only creatures I've seen on them are snails which I put back in the tank... unlike terrestial snails, water snails only eat rotting or damaged plant tissue. Hope you get your nematode situation straightened out! 🌱
Nematodes are in all aquariums no matter what you do, your population may be small, so you don't see them, also snails like to eat them and therefore the population is under control. You only got a problem if you get the parasitic ones... which are hard or impossible to kill... >.<
Thanks! The issue with anubias rot is not widely known, and it first looks like a nutrient deficiency, which you try to combat without results and the anubias plants keep "melting" and when you find out what's wrong, it's too late... Sellers also keep this under wrap and may sell contaminated cuttings which look healthy but aren't... so best quarantine the newly purchased plants for like 2-3 months just to be sure...
~just for your info
shinrin777 Thanks, Shirin! I have one tank with anubis on driftwood, and it's doing well. the rest of my tanks are heavily planted with a variety of plants. You can see my tanks (and violets/orchids) on Instagram, I'm there as Mzzchief. Do you have an IG account with your tanks and orchids?
shinrin777 Hi, I saw you joined Instagram, YAY, I left some comments there using Direct Messaging since this is Dani's account, and we should really stay on the topic she introduced! haha See you on IG ! 🌱
shinrin777 Hi, I saw you joined Instagram, YAY, I left some comments there using Direct Messaging since this is Dani's account, and we should really stay on the topic she introduced! haha See you on IG 🌱
Where did u buy the plant rack u see in the start i need something like that ❤️
My tap water is a tad too hard and too alkaline, but I got quite lucky. I found a very cheap brand of bottled water that has 20-40 ppm and around 6.5 pH, wich I found to be ideal given that distilled water can be quite expensive. Also the slight content in Mg and Ca can be beneficial for the orchids.
In case anybody is interested, I live in Spain and I found said brand at Lidl. I looked into every supermarket to check what brands they had.
Hi, do you still use this bottled water you mentioned? Would it be possible for you to tell me what this brand is? I've been looking everywhere for low TDS in bottled water but have been finding this a difficult task!
NesuChambers it would be very helpful this name, thank you
This is rlly great info for an orchid
I got a phalaenopsis for valentines day and its roots were rotten, and my mini rose plants had parasites that killed the buds. I cut the roots and replanted it in bark and cut the buds off and washed them, threw out the pots and started over 😞 I was so heart broken I have orchid food that promotes blooming but how often do I feed it?
Do you think you could do a video that explains the difference between a new growth or a flower spike on Oncidium types?
can I use rain water to water my orchids?
Is distilled water good for orchids?
Didn’t you watch the video??
How to set up osmosis system?
Thank you for the info.
Can i youse ph powder for aquarium to make the water more acidic???
What kind of meter did you say? I couldn't understand
Hi Danny, I've just realised that the middle button on the TDS meter is for measuring the temperature of the water LOL ... I'm sure you knew this already though!
Praying Mantis are beneficial insects , they eat MITES
Πλάκα κάνεις ότι είσαι ελληνίδα...:😁😁 ξέρεις πόσα χρόνια βλέπω τα βιντεάκια σου ;;; χαχαχα τελειο!
So the American Orchid Society is saying not to use distilled water, so who is correct? I want to do the right thing by my orchids, but so many contradictory opinions about orchids. Please anyone on this site if you can enlighten me it would help. I know Miss Orchid doesn't answer questions here, but help from others are welcome. Thank you!
Hi, I don't think the AOS doesn't recommend distilled water, maybe you missed the context. I suggest you revisit the articles. Good luck!
@@MissOrchidGirl no he's right I came to this video cause I wanted to see what kind of water to use AOS does say to not use salt soften water (what I have) and distilled water as well
Hi Danni, I love your Video's a lot. Do you have to play the music in the background? It drives me nuts. I will suffer through it to listen to what you have to say but I wish there was a button to push to have no music. LOL. Other than that keep up the good work.
The problem with distilled water is that it dosent contain even a slight amount of minerals, which orchids need from time to time.
...Uhm, I use the day-old cats water... Of course, it's chlorine-free spring water from the local mountains (pampered cats!), but other than that, it's not special at all.
Danni could you give a first time orchid owner advice? I got it as a Valentine's gift. at the end of the week I did my first watering with room temp tap water, let it soak in a pot for a few minutes and then drained. since then a few buds look blasted but i also forgot go open my blinds when I went to work a few days last week so it wasn't super bright inside. Will i still get a chance to see the larger buds bloom? I have new bark and am ready to add extra holes, but should I wait for the larger buds to bloom? I know phals are hardier I just wanted your opinion if it will just get worse (the bud blast, roots seem just ok) so it needs help now or if it's ok to wait if it doesn't look too sick? tinypic.com/r/2a0nf29/9
In my experience, drop in light is the most common reason for a healthy plant to bud blast or have premature flower drop. I bet forgetting to open the blinds is what did it. I've had perfectly happy orchids blooming that dropped their flowers after I watered and put them back on the shelf just a few inches further from the light source.
You might not lose the rest of the buds, just remember to give the orchid as much light as possible without direct sunshine. I know you asked Dani, but if it were me I would wait to repot and enjoy whatever blooms your orchid has left. Unless you obviously have rotting roots or something, enjoy your flowers and repot when it's done blooming :)
purified water