How To Water Orchids With Spray Bottle? Super Simple Steps

How to water orchids with spray bottle is a task that you can manage to grow your plant if you do the process right. For this, you should first decide the right time, choose the correct nozzle, fill the pure water, and then spray the orchids by keeping the nozzle at least six inches away.

Continue reading as we explain the spraying steps in detail.

How To Water Orchids With Spray Bottle?

To water your orchids with a spray bottle, you should choose the right time and place a fine or fog mist nozzle first. Fill the bottle with high-quality soft water and start misting from the top. After this, remove the extra water droplets to ensure the fungus does not attack.

1. Choose the Right Time

It is super important to choose the right time for watering the orchids. Applying early or taking too much time can lead to stunted growth, poor flower quality, and an overall unaesthetic appearance.

To choose the perfect time, the best way is to check the moisture in the soil. If you sense there is dryness, then immediately apply the water. If the soil is soggy, then wait for it to become dry.  You should use a moisture meter instrument to detect moisture accurately. It is easily available online or in any gardening store. It precisely reads how much moisture is present near the soil.

However, if you want to avoid buying a moisture detector, use your fingers to sense the moisture and dryness. Just scratching the soil with your index finger will provide you with an idea of whether the time has come to water the orchids. Note that your nail should be trimmed if you choose this method.

Lifting the orchid pot is another way to determine whether the soil is dry. If it feels a little heavier than usual, moisture is present. If it feels light, it indicates that the soil is dry and needs water. A humidity gauge also helps you decide when to apply water.

Remember that an orchid is the type of plant that loves a high humidity-filled area, which should be more than 50 percent. Phalaenopsis orchids love it up to 75 percent, which means you must also know the type.

If it goes below 50 percent, you should spray the water immediately, so the orchids don’t face any complications. Search about the species to better understand how much humidity your orchids love.

When you have decided the orchids need water, pick the ideal time for spraying. It would be best if you sprayed plants in the early morning. The reason is that misting late will cause most of the moisture to evaporate because of the sun. In the evening and night, orchids don’t need much water either. Therefore, the best time to spray orchids with water is early morning.

2. Clean the Bottle

Before misting orchids, it is super important to clean the bottle. It is done to make sure no dirt gets transferred to the plant or soil. This dirt may contain pathogens, leading to many problems, including disease attacks, that could be in the content of the bottle.

In addition, we also suggest you keep the bottle only for watering purposes and never use it for anything else. Many gardeners use the same bottle to clean windows and car shields, but abstain from this matter. There are better approaches than this if you want your orchids to stay pathogen free.

3. Go for Fine Mist Nozzle for Proper Spraying

After finally deciding it’s time to water the orchids, the next thing to do is select the bottle’s fine or fog mist nozzle. You must go for this one because it creates finer drops of water. Putting on the other nozzles will spray large drops on the orchids, which is undesirable.

When you aim to mist your orchids with a nozzle that sprays gigantic water droplets, the chances of the emergence of fungal spots go up. The reason is that such droplets stay on the plants and soil for more time, which increases the chances of fungal diseases like crown rot.

On another note, keep in mind that the large droplets also increase humidity around the orchids. When it gets high, the evaporation won’t occur smoothly, directly impacting the plant’s internal processes. Similarly, spraying huge droplets can damage the plant parts too; as a result, it is crucial to choose the right mist nozzle.

4. Fill up the Bottle With Pure Water

After cleaning the bottle and deciding on the perfect nozzle, the next step is to fill the bottle with pure and room-temperature water. It’s no secret that orchids are sensitive to impurities. If you add such water that has high levels of impure elements, then the negative effects will be visible on them.

Note that the best water for orchids is rainwater, because of its purity; however, the issue, in this case, is that you can only apply it sometimes. Hence, you can go for tap water, but, those who live in the inner areas of the cities or near the industrial zones should regularly check the tap water quality.

In short, you must be doing so, because of the chances of hard water, which is when the water is high in its salt content, especially higher in those areas. Moreover, filtered and distilled water is also a good choice to apply to orchids.

Furthermore, you should avoid applying cold water, too. The reason is that cold water can shock the orchid roots, which can halt their performance. Similarly, don’t mist with hot water, and it is because applying it can lead to root burn, which can also impact water absorption and minerals.

5. Spray on the Right Orchid Parts

After filling the bottle with pure water, the next step is to spray it on the orchids. You must be careful because you may damage the plants even if you show slight carelessness.

So, do you water orchids from the top or bottom? The ideal way is that you start at the top and then move the bottle to the bottom. This will help you check how much moisture falls on the soil or potting media.

On top, you can mist orchid leaves, but do note that you should never spray on the underside of these leaves. The reason is that sunlight does not reach this area, so the chances of root rot, or other fungal diseases increase greatly.

However, now you would start wondering, should you mist orchid blooms? No, it would help if you never misted orchid flowers. The flowers are delicate, and you may end up hurting them with the spraying. Just make sure that you are misting leaves and shoots which are enough.

On the bottom, you should spray water directly into the root area. A lot of gardeners think, “should I mist orchid aerial roots?” Well, yes, you can mist these roots but not too much. Furthermore, keep the spray nozzle at least six to 10 inches away from the orchids, but if you keep it close, the water pressure might hurt the orchids.

6. Dry the Orchid

After spraying, it is better to dry the parts where you may have misted extra water. For this, we suggest you use a paper towel or cotton swab.

You should gently rub the orchids with any of them to eliminate excessive moisture. On the contrary, remember that you should never try to dry flowers even if the water has fallen on them, as doing this can damage them. Such as patting and drying with a dry towel, because the flower is already so vulnerable.

If you have sprayed more water on the potting mix or soil, add peat moss, hydrated lime, or compost. This will also add some vital nutrients to the soil, which will help your orchids to thrive.

7. Keep Monitoring Orchids

When you are done with spraying and drying the orchids, you should keep monitoring them so that you can detect problems, like waterlogging, earlier in the growing phase. Furthermore, it also helps you provide the best conditions for orchids to grow.

After spraying, you should observe the response of the orchids. The plants will be happy with the water application if it continues growing. But if you see spots or discoloration, you did something wrong while spraying water; this step is important because it will encourage you to do better.

The first step is to discover the humidity levels around the orchids, as you should provide humidity to the optimal levels of 55 to 70 percent. Some plant owners often over-spray the orchids, which can momentarily increase the humidity, causing leaves to turning yellow.

To counter these problems, go for the right nozzle and improve air circulation by cutting the extra shoots. Also, keep a check on how much and many times you spray. Some also wonder, how long can orchids go without water? The answer varies depending on orchid species and environmental factors, but usually, at most, four to seven days.

On the same note, how often do mist orchids? Typically, twice a week in summer and once a week in winter. Decide that day of the week when the soil goes partially moisture-less, and if you still frequently face the problem of spots, use ice cubes to water orchids.

You can also try humidity trays or pour water on the soil. Furthermore, an automatic orchid mister is also a good option for misting the orchids.

Conclusion

You know how easy it is to mist the orchids with a spray or nozzle bottle. Here are the main takeaways of the whole article before we sign off:

• Spray orchids with pure water early in the morning.
• Start misting from the top and then move to the bottom to avoid over spraying.
• Don’t mist the flowers and underside of the leaves.
• After spraying, use a paper towel or cotton to dry the excess water on the orchids.

That’s how to care for orchids when watering. Follow these orchid care measures, and you will never face issues with watering your orchid plants.