The "orchid ice cube" method I laughed at for years... it actually works lol

My aunt Deb from upstate NY kept telling me to toss 3 ice cubes on my phalaenopsis every week. I thought she was nuts, I mean how could cold water be good for a tropical plant. After killing 4 orchids in a row I finally gave it a try last March and that thing has been blooming nonstop for 8 months now. Anyone else have a florist "myth" that turned out to be totally real?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannahs4526d ago

Did you water it less too or just the ice cubes?

blair_dixon26d ago

My monstera was getting crispy tips so I tried the ice cube thing for about a month on my 8 inch pot. Honestly I microwaved a cup of water for like 30 seconds then added three big cubes from the tray and let them melt on top of the soil. Tbh it worked way better than I thought because the water soaked in slow and the roots didn't get flooded. I still gave it a regular watering maybe every 10 days when the top inch felt dry. Ngl the ice cubes alone wouldn't have been enough for mine since it got pretty dry in the middle of the pot.

julia_miller2425d ago

Yeah same thing happened to me. I had a massive monstera in a 10 inch pot and tried the ice cube thing for about two weeks straight cause I was sure it would help with the crispy tips. But honestly it just made the soil stay damp on top while the deeper roots still went thirsty. I ended up switching to bottom watering every 10 days and that's what actually fixed the crispy edges for me. Just fill a tray and let it soak up from the bottom over a few hours. The roots get what they need without water sitting on top. Yours sounds like it needed a mix of both methods which is smart.