The 'water twice' approach to watering

[Russ1992]

When I lived in PA, I was near the Fetzer Greenhouses in Hartsville. Once upon a time, that had been a big source of cattleya hybrids, complete with flasking lab and incubation rooms. Dad died, and his son converted the place into more of a seasonal bedding plant/poinsettia nursery. He did, however, have a relationship with Hausermann, so had a few greenhouses with flats of phals and oncids that should have been potted up years earlier, but still sold for $1/plant. They were the supply of plants I used in my various comparative experiments - one concerning the use of synthetic hormones (including my own concoction), and another concerning the impact of daily watering. Each experiment dealt with 300 plants, broken into sets “matched” by observed size and weighed as a group to provide an objective parameter.

All gone now - property values were worth more that the business could possibly generate.

Yes I did know that you had experience here in this arena with large sample sizes which is cool. Watering nearly every day makes total sense if one were to imitate nature around those equatorial regions. Practically speaking though this would be difficult for the hobbyist and or expensive (paying someone else to water) when one is out of town.

It's much more doable if you have a small collection.

 

[Ray]

Yes I did know that you had experience here in this arena with large sample sizes which is cool. Watering nearly every day makes total sense if one were to imitate nature around those equatorial regions. Practically speaking though this would be difficult for the hobbyist and or expensive (paying someone else to water) when one is out of town.

It's much more doable if you have a small collection.

The experiment was trying to prove that plants cannot be overwatered, not to come up with a recommended method. However, I am going to disagree with that last statement.

In my PA greenhouse, I had "evolved" my potting/mounting over a couple of decades of experiments, so that everything could be watered at once while still meeting individual needs. The greenhouse had an overhead "rain" watering system that I manually started with a remote, and it shut itself off after 30 minutes. While on vacation, I just put it on a sprinkler timer, and that could easily be set up to water daily.

 

[cnycharles]

Thanks Charles.

Yw!

 

[Russ1992]

The experiment was trying to prove that plants cannot be overwatered, not to come up with a recommended method. However, I am going to disagree with that last statement.

In my PA greenhouse, I had "evolved" my potting/mounting over a couple of decades of experiments, so that everything could be watered at once while still meeting individual needs. The greenhouse had an overhead "rain" watering system that I manually started with a remote, and it shut itself off after 30 minutes. While on vacation, I just put it on a sprinkler timer, and that could easily be set up to water daily.

Sure Ray but for indoor growing it's another story. Nice set-up you had there though.

 

[Ray]

It was - especially as I had a 50-mile one-way commute on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to do somewhere between 5:30 & 6 am.

Now that I am an "in-home" grower again, I simply use the "one-time, flood" method.

 

[Russ1992]

It was - especially as I had a 50-mile one-way commute on the Pennsylvania Turnpike to do somewhere between 5:30 & 6 am.

Now that I am an "in-home" grower again, I simply use the "one-time, flood" method.

Hey if it works that's all that matters.

 

[Russ1992]

I got the "water twice" advice from Terry Root (OZ).

Terry I hear had the best looking paphs out of any nursery, period, hard stop.

With that being said did he tell you if he waters with fert first and then flush, or the other way around?