How I Water my Orchids and Tillandsia | Soaking my Plants

For those interested in keeping phalaenopsis orchids and air plants, the watering can be one of the first thoughts that comes to mind. To put it simply, the way you water the plants depends on you and your environment. If you forget about the plants (like I do) then soaking once a week may be better. If you have mounted the plants, then keep in mind the materials they are mounted on. If you remember the plants, or they are in terrariums, misting may be better suited for you. It may come down to experimenting a little bit and finding what suits you best.

I grow all of my plants under artificial lighting in my room, and because my room is small, it stays around 80 degrees F. or 26.7 C. Honestly, this is not the best situation for humidity loving plants, but they can still be grown. The lighting and warm tempuraters tend to dry things out. I also tend to forget about frequent waterings, and so I have gone with the once a week soakings.

As a side note, these orchids are rescues from the local store clearance rack. These two look great, but the third is still perking up some. These ones were planted in bark when I got them, and didn't have much root rot to speak of. It was mainly just replanting them in new/better bark and nicer pots.


The third was in moss, and had a bit of rot that needed cleaned up. Whenever they are planted in moss from the store, they seem to have rot. The problem is that with epiphytic species of orchids, their roots need to breathe more than standard plant roots. Moss simply doesn't allow for this, and also holds onto water too well for these plants.

Anyways, back to the soaking :)

I take them into the shower and rinse them off gently. Then set them in the small tote for half an hour or so. The first two dry while the next set soaks. After they are all done, they go under the lights again.

I put the Tillandsia in last. There isn't really a reason for this. Perhaps it is just habit.

Once done, they dry on a towel before going to their original places.

Hope you enjoyed the images :) and if perhaps it cleared some questions on orchids.