NOT if you want to grow orchids.
Some people have had some success with water culture but in general you would have more success, depending upon the type of orchid, growing them in baskets, on mounts or in pots.
Growing hydroponically they grow smaller leaves, smaller flowers and smaller growths.

My water grown orchids would not agree with you. This Phal came to me without any roots. Its now happy, healthy and blooming. These are the last two flowers on a spike that started blooming in February. They are each just over 4 inches wide.

My biggest complaint with water culture is some flower spikes just don't want to grow upwards without a stake and a jar of water doesn't support stakes well.

As long as you are happy with your orchids, that is all that matters.
It is just in my experience, and your images confirm that in my mind, your plant would be bigger and produce more flowers and bigger flowers if it was not in water. We can just agree to disagree.

As far as the spikes go, the spreading horizontally of the inflorescence may be due to water culture. But it may not.

When I read "Water Culture" I immediately think of Koi Ponds.... NOT Orchids. BTW, I bought a gorgeous 12x12 tile to grout into a plant stand table top.

How pretty!

Out of necessity, I decided to try water culture on the Phals after reading this string. So far they are liking it. It's only been a week, so it's hard to tell yet how it will affect them long term.

The one that is surprising, is the cattleya- look at the new roots! I wouldn't have thought a cattleya would actually have this result! I've been watching each day and they keep growing.

My orchid collection isn't big enough for me to worry about it long term and I do not have really expensive orchids either. So far water culture is a big help.

Melissa, I'm interested in hearing how the Cattleya does. I led a discussion at our last Orchid Society meeting about water culture and, one of the questions was what other orchids (besides Phalaenopsis) can be grown this way. I haven't tried anything else so, keep us posted.

ANY orchid can be grown in water. But that is not the question.
The question becomes for how long and how well??
3 years, 5 years, even 10 years down the road, where will those water grown orchids be. What will they look like?
Lastly, the biggest question. Do you want to grow orchids or do you want to really GROW orchids?

I know, Daisy! I was really surprised about the Cattleya because I had backed off watering as often, and it seemed just fine with less water. I will definitely keep you posted.

I do agree with you, Bill. I really don't know how they will do long term. Because I have been surprised by how they're now growing, part of me now wants to keep a couple in water and see what happens long term, especially Triple Love just out of curiosity. Here's another one- I moved the dendrobium to water, and the stems are so nice and full, I thought hey it's never looked like that before! But the down side, is that I cannot stake it correctly, so it does not present as well as in bark and will be difficult to stake in the future since it will grow wonky (the technical term). See below-



To answer your question, yes, I really do want to GROW orchids and do plan to have orchids in my own mixture in the future. And for that, I will spend a lot of time mastering best technique, it's a fun challenge. I know, Bill, you're a purist and I think that's awesome because it really is an art- I value your insight.

Well, don't mind me, but I can't help myself but to cringe! I honestly don't think this has anything to do with being a purist (sorry Bill to jump in here! ) or with art! This is just plain knowledge and experience! I can't possible imagine these water experiments to work in the long run.
Perhaps it might help to see Orchids growing and blooming in nature? If one has some time to spare, have a look here, I saw Orchids growing on several trips in the Amazon and Andean region and other places, but this one here traveling through Ecuador was most memorable.
The thread "Our Orchid Tour with Ecuagenera, Ecuador July 2. to July 15. 2013" in Orchids forum

Hopefully I did not step on too many toes here, but perhaps my 2 cents might shed some light on this.
Peace.

Hmm. I thought what I wrote was nice. And it is purist because school of thought is that there is no other way to grow, than what someone thinks should be done historically or what is seen in nature. That is beside the point- I did not intend for anyone to cringe. Maybe we should all do the same thing then?

Of course Melissa, you wrote very nice indeed and friendly too. No argument here!
I am just looking at this whole thread and this whole concept and ask why? Picture me wringing my hands!!
If someone wants to grow Orchids in water or semi- hydro, I myself consider it a waste of materials and time. But of course, it is any one's choice.
And no, we should not all do the same thing, since our basic conditions are surely quite different. Growing outside, in a greenhouse, on a windowsill, different climates, different Orchids, nothing is identical. But - here is my point, I always try to grow my plants as close as possible to their original requirements, which means, I simply do fine with some plants and poorly with others. Regarding the latter, after some tries, I leave them to others who have better growing conditions for that particular plant. Example - I don't grow Masdevallias because I keep my plants outside over the Summer, and those Orchids hate our NJ Summer. I would kill them in no time flat.
Not sure if I am clear here?

Well, Melissa, this Forum is ruled by people who don't think experimentation is a good thing. Its their way or the highway.

Ursula said:Of course Melissa, you wrote very nice indeed and friendly too. No argument here!
I am just looking at this whole thread and this whole concept and ask why? Picture me wringing my hands!!
If someone wants to grow Orchids in water or semi- hydro, I myself consider it a waste of materials and time. But of course, it is any one's choice.
And no, we should not all do the same thing, since our basic conditions are surely quite different. Growing outside, in a greenhouse, on a windowsill, different climates, different Orchids, nothing is identical. But - here is my point, I always try to grow my plants as close as possible to their original requirements, which means, I simply do fine with some plants and poorly with others. Regarding the latter, after some tries, I leave them to others who have better growing conditions for that particular plant. Example - I don't grow Masdevallias because I keep my plants outside over the Summer, and those Orchids hate our NJ Summer. I would kill them in no time flat.
Not sure if I am clear here?

Why are you making rules about how and where orchids should be grown? How is this thread hurting you?

If you can suggest a more appropriate place for this Thread, we will happily move. This is the Orchid Forum. We should have the right to discuss what we want without being abused by both of you.

Oops, a rant.

Of course!
I will now again disappear from this thread! It is not a good idea to ever disagree?
Carry on!

Thank You.

And MissySue, please consider this, if you can't grow orchids in the " Way of the Purist!", it may be because you can not figure out the proper watering schedule, and your orchids aren't happy. And then you stick a Cattleya in water, and it makes new roots, does not necessarily mean that you have discovered a better way to grow orchids! It might mean that compared to your watering regime that you have been using and wasn't working, your plants are happy to have some water.
That happens with Phalaenopsis too. Probably any orchid deprived of water would respond by making roots when given adequate water.

Ok, I don't think I've found a new way to grow orchids. I turned to water culture so my orchids would not die. In a surprising turn, the orchids seem to like it and I now think it's a very interesting experiment. Hey- I still have my orchids and their roots are growing- bonus!

The word purist is actually a good thing here, it was not meant to start a problem, or trend of insults- but the insults are coming from the people saying not to insult.? BTW- I was told previous that I watered Cattleya too much so I had backed off some.

I'm just going to do what I want to do with my plants and post photos because whatever I choose because I can't please everyone. Or start a new string "Getting A Life".

I turned to water culture for two reasons (well, three).

1. I love science experiments

2. I couldn't control the mealybugs on my Phals

3. I inherited a bunch of rootless almost dead plants.

Water culture has saved their lives, all are rooted and healthy now. And, I no longer have a mealybug problem. They bloom as much or more than they did before I converted them.

I really wish those of us who are experimenting with water culture could have a discussion without the curmudgeon posts. Its a fun concept and having a perfect, just got it from the store looking plant was never my goal. I have never had a Phalaenopsis look as good as 'store bought' ever again. Perfection is not my goal and, for most of us, isn't even attainable.

MissySue, the Cattleya may be happiest just hanging over the water and enjoying all that humidity in the root zone, not actually dabbling its toes in the water. I am slowly, as I repot, giving up growing medium and just putting Catts in baskets. They seem to like the dry but humid roots better. Next time I have a struggling Cattleya, I think I'll try it.

Hey Daisy- all three reasons sound good to me! I think you're right about the Cattleya. I have it in the pot, sitting on an upside down plastic cup (with a hole so it doesn't float), and have been adjusting the water level. It looks like the plant is doing it's thing- naturally reaching for water but not submerged in it.
And yes, I think the humidity factor definitely helps with less stress on the plant.



The more I think about it, if an orchid in the wild fell off the tree it was growing on, or was bumped off by an animal, what would happen? It would try to attach to something and find water, and probably attempt to right itself. Pretty amazing actually.