Recently,
in a prominent southern magazine, the resident gardener was very dismissive of
anyone trying to keep what he called “Ice Cube Orchids” beyond their sell-by
date, or in this instance, the last flower to fall off the stalk. I’d never
heard of that name for these supermarket specials.
When
I got my first white orchid (I really don’t like he pink ones) at Trader Joe’s
three years ago, I googled the care and feeding of such plants. I was
dee-lighted to come upon the ice cube watering technique. I popped the plant,
plastic pot and all, into a terra cotta pot and set it on the big counter
behind my kitchen sink. I put the suggested three ice cubes on top of the soil
and that was that.
As
I recall the plant stayed in bloom for over a month. When the last flower
faded, I googled again - this time to see how to keep it alive. I found that I
should just cut off the stem, keep watering it and fertilizing it, and see what
happens.
Well,
the watering technique was easy. Every Sunday I did the three ice cube routine.
But did I fertilize it? No. I am a bit lazy that way. Anything needing special
nurturing had little chance with me because I simply forget to keep with the
program. Ice cubes were easy to remember because we use them here every day.
I lucked out. I must have the proper combination of minerals in my tap water,
the proper amount of sunshine every day, and the proper amount of benign
neglect that the orchids just love. My
first orchid has rebloomed three times. The second one, a gift, has rebloomed
twice now, and the little one I bought last year has bloomed again.
So
if you have the room to keep a phalaenopsis orchid, the proper sunshine, ice cubes made in an old-fashioned ice cube tray from unfiltered tap
water, and a regular hand with the cubes (three to a large plant, two to a
small one each week) give them a try. By the way, I’ve never repotted any of
them. I sort of like the roots coming out all over the place. I remove any dead
ones so that I have a place to nestle the ice cubes by the soil. The constant
drip of the melting cubes insures that the plant gradually takes up the water, and
you have no wet mess anywhere. And no, it's not too cold for the plant the water is above the freezing point.
By
the way, remove any yellowed leaves – usually one each year – and when the
bloom finishes cut off the stem. If there are any little nodes on the stem, as
there were with my little yellow orchid last year, cut the stem just above the
node. This year on that plant I got one bloom above the node, and a full set of
blooms from below.
The
cost for these orchids is relatively minimal. The foliage is large and it
doesn’t drop all over, and the flowers last. The first bloom on my first plant
came out on December 20th. It is just fading now, about three and a
half months later. That’s a long time to have such lovely flowers in bloom.
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