Hello, Brad! This is a fine demonstration of flushing salts from orchids and very informative for novice growers like me (from the State of Georgia, USA). Thank you for keeping this video posted.
Hi Brad, Just checked that $5.99 TDS meter from eBay. It seems that it is working just fine when I did some controls: Distilled water: 000; tap water 098; filtered water 075. I will check the next time my orchids need watering. The whole TDS meter came in a neat soft black wallet and seems of good quality.
Thanks for the tip Brad. I believe l flush (no pun intended) a little more than once a month here in south fl...l am around every weekend at this point. We have plenty of rains, high humidity and light winters. Thanks for sharing and happy growing.
I bought the meter! Thank you. I have a question though. My tap water which I always use is at about 230 tds. With fertilizer I think it was up to 260. I put about three orchids at a time in a tank of fertilized water. At what number should I change the water?
Absolutely fantastic video! I have been trying to get people to get a tds meter because so many buy different fertilizers and use varying strengths without knowing what their tds is at in the first place. I feel that water quality is an essential part of growing orchids. This video helps to point that out. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Brad, will you add the word "leach" to the title or put it in the description please? Since leaching is the "official orchid speak" term that I've come across in many orchid books, I was searching for the video by typing "leaching orchid pots," and couldn't find it. I've previously searched for videos with that title in the past. I think that anyone who knows they need to leach pots, knows the word "leach," and would search for that term. And THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH! Also, if you're not down with my suggestions, you can pm me and politely tell me to shove it ;) I'll completely understand. I love your videos and I love how diverse your collection is. You're a fabulous grower and I'm so glad you're as popular on TH-cam as you are. Thanks again.
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening - I just bought it today, right after watching your video. I guess time will tell. I will let you know how good (or not) it is.
so important. 2 days ago in FB had a big talk about water quality . just in watering. and the difference it is city to city. country to country. my tap water is 400. (water company agrees) so only rain water for me. i live in Indiana. .aka The limestone Capitol of the world
Great demo - brilliant! Unfortunately, that means I'm going to have to do mine out of curiosity. I cannot believe your tap water quality - mine is around 270 TDS so I have to use an RO unit so I have a 'known' base point. My daughter's tap water is around 550 TDS - that would actually kill some orchids (Disas spring to mind). The next watering will be pure and I'll test the water as I go to see how much the salts build up. As I use a 10 lt bowl, and I flush back into the bowl (re-using the water) I should get an idea of how much is coming out with the flush as I go along. Thanks for all the extra work mate - cheers (teehee). Now, what about PH ? A video for another time - shows high acidity in bark type media as it breaks down? but not so easy to test for - same principle though - leaving a pot to soak for a while and then checking the change in PH.
+Roger Frampton thanks Roger, A ph video would be good but I use dolomite and oyster shells a lot as my water, is so soft, can have PH crashes quite quickly
This was very. VERY interesting! Thanks, Brad! It was also very impressive. I had no idea the salt accumulation could get that bad. Now I want a TDS meter. Thanks for taking the time to make this experiment on video and sharing with us. It was very educational. I haven't flushed my pots enough. Did you give any calcium to that paphiopedilum, or is all that salt only from regular fertilizer? Happy New Year!
Wow I did not expect such a high concentration. That was a great and very usefull video, Brad. I shower and flush my orchids twice a month all year round anyway, so I guess I am safe, right? I wish you a happy new year to you and your family and lots of happy growing for yet another season.
+John John I can't say how safe you are, depends how much you fertilize, how long you flush your pots and how many ppms are in the water to start with but happy new year!
Could I do this with miracle gro perlite mix? I hand picked the fertilizers from the perlite mix, and I want to also try to leach out these fertilizers using distilled water. This is being done for my venus fly trap.
Whoa, crazy! Did you fertilize this plant every time you watered in the summer? I underfertilize because I'm lazy and the thought of fertilizer burn scares me, usually I'll fertilize every 3rd watering during the growing season, if that, and in the winter I have to push myself to do it at all.
30 in tap water that is cleen you mentioned a saltwater tank in an other video do you ewen need an RO for that? of course it depends of wath is in the water but still it is such a low number, my tap wather from a private well is arround 600 on a good day and arround 900 on a bad day! the water is good quality just loded with ca! Accually had a saltwater with sps just using tap water for 6 months woreked great just some silica after larger water changes and way too high ca (acctually just got a white cloud once) and mg were a bit high too, but impossible too grow ewen hardy orchids in so an RO is vital for them and eaier with the tanks too no worries about stuff accumulating as it gets older. I never thougt about checking my plants with a tds (have spare ones since upgrading the RO) I always had a hard time deciding if I need too flush in RO water ore if the tap water will be better since I can flush with more wather then, ore if it might be best too first use tap and then finish with RO so this will really help.
+awaros86 wow 600ppm! that would make things hard....ours is always between 25-30ppm and no I don't bother to use RO water for the reef tank. no point, the tap water is so good. I do have a de- ionizer for if I need water with 0ppm
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening yep werry hard indeed lol we add a tsp citric acid every time we do the dishes otherwise everything gets like sandpaper, fabric softener is a must for clothes and the shower is impossible to keep nice and shiny but at least we get a good amount of calcium to strengthen our bones as well 😆 I forgot to mention that we do have a large filter for reducing lime too 😰 the tds just say error if I test before that 😵. But I really love my spectrapure 180gpd and boosterpump had a cheaper one before it simply could not handle our water the old one took 8 hours just too get 20L (5.2 us gallons was a 90gpd model so not the smallest one and it is a good RO during more normal conditions) now 20L just takes less than one hour ☺ but it is of course more work than just getting water from the tap, it, allso much more expensive and wastes a lot of water, so be thankful for not needing all that even if I'm sure your type of water has challenges too.
shouldnt you be using clean water for every flush, because you keep using the same one over and over for the plant. So u arent cleaning it verymuch but just putting back the salts.
I agree. I was thinking "he's squirting in water that has already been flushed out of the pot over and over". Next time, use tap water over an empty bucket then check with the TDS meter.
Hello, Brad! This is a fine demonstration of flushing salts from orchids and very informative for novice growers like me (from the State of Georgia, USA).
Thank you for keeping this video posted.
So interesting and good to actually see it, thanks Brad.
+mysticshining Your Welcome, happy new year!
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening Happy new year to you too Brad !
Very good demonstration and thank you for mentioning the meter is available on e-bay, I need to get one for myself.
+fifi fifi Your Welcome, happy new year!
Hi Brad, Just checked that $5.99 TDS meter from eBay. It seems that it is working just fine when I did some controls: Distilled water: 000; tap water 098; filtered water 075. I will check the next time my orchids need watering. The whole TDS meter came in a neat soft black wallet and seems of good quality.
Great video.
Thank you :)
Eyeopener for me ! Great video !
Thanks for the tip Brad. I believe l flush (no pun intended) a little more than once a month here in south fl...l am around every weekend at this point. We have plenty of rains, high humidity and light winters. Thanks for sharing and happy growing.
Yes, your warm rains would be great for that, wouldn't have to worry much
I bought the meter! Thank you. I have a question though. My tap water which I always use is at about 230 tds. With fertilizer I think it was up to 260. I put about three orchids at a time in a tank of fertilized water. At what number should I change the water?
You did a great job, Thanks.
+Jean Andrews thanks, happy new year!
Absolutely fantastic video! I have been trying to get people to get a tds meter because so many buy different fertilizers and use varying strengths without knowing what their tds is at in the first place. I feel that water quality is an essential part of growing orchids. This video helps to point that out. Happy New Year to you and your family.
+Wade's Orchids thank you Wade, I feel the same. happy new year to you as well!
Super informative. Thank you.
Thank you :)
Great video! Thank you Brad, and happy new year!
+Antonia Orchids Your Welcome, happy new year!
Brad, will you add the word "leach" to the title or put it in the description please? Since leaching is the "official orchid speak" term that I've come across in many orchid books, I was searching for the video by typing "leaching orchid pots," and couldn't find it. I've previously searched for videos with that title in the past. I think that anyone who knows they need to leach pots, knows the word "leach," and would search for that term. And THANK YOU THANK YOU SO MUCH! Also, if you're not down with my suggestions, you can pm me and politely tell me to shove it ;) I'll completely understand. I love your videos and I love how diverse your collection is. You're a fabulous grower and I'm so glad you're as popular on TH-cam as you are. Thanks again.
+Indoor Orchids and Tropicals Just for you!
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening whhhaaa! THANK YOU SO MUCH!
+Indoor Orchids and Tropicals Thank you for taking the time to give your opinion, like you say, It will help people fnd the video. Happy New year!
very interesting and informative. thank you for the great video.
+Orchid Galaxy Your Welcome, happy new year!
Happy new year to yo too.
+Roger Frampton happy new year!
GRAZIE MILLE :D :D FANTASTICO VIDEO
Thank You - very helpful indeed. Bought TDS meter on ebay for $5.99 - excellent
+Petra Kues excellent, did you just buy it or have you had it a while? just wondering about the quality of them
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening - I just bought it today, right after watching your video. I guess time will tell. I will let you know how good (or not) it is.
+Petra Kues this is the link: www.ebay.com/itm/321590075246
Thanks for the heads up.
+Elona Hartjes your welcome:)
Thank you!
Very informative!
+Elena Mazzullo thank Elena
so important. 2 days ago in FB had a big talk about water quality . just in watering. and the difference it is city to city. country to country.
my tap water is 400. (water company agrees) so only rain water for me.
i live in Indiana. .aka The limestone Capitol of the world
+Bret Furgason very good point, how it differs everywhere. Im very lucky here.happy new year!
Great demo - brilliant! Unfortunately, that means I'm going to have to do mine out of curiosity. I cannot believe your tap water quality - mine is around 270 TDS so I have to use an RO unit so I have a 'known' base point. My daughter's tap water is around 550 TDS - that would actually kill some orchids (Disas spring to mind). The next watering will be pure and I'll test the water as I go to see how much the salts build up. As I use a 10 lt bowl, and I flush back into the bowl (re-using the water) I should get an idea of how much is coming out with the flush as I go along. Thanks for all the extra work mate - cheers (teehee). Now, what about PH ? A video for another time - shows high acidity in bark type media as it breaks down? but not so easy to test for - same principle though - leaving a pot to soak for a while and then checking the change in PH.
+Roger Frampton thanks Roger, A ph video would be good but I use dolomite and oyster shells a lot as my water, is so soft, can have PH crashes quite quickly
Great!
This was very. VERY interesting! Thanks, Brad! It was also very impressive. I had no idea the salt accumulation could get that bad. Now I want a TDS meter. Thanks for taking the time to make this experiment on video and sharing with us. It was very educational. I haven't flushed my pots enough. Did you give any calcium to that paphiopedilum, or is all that salt only from regular fertilizer? Happy New Year!
+Orchids & a Dutchy Your Welcome, yes most of my orchids have some dolomite in these days happy new year!
Wow I did not expect such a high concentration. That was a great and very usefull video, Brad.
I shower and flush my orchids twice a month all year round anyway, so I guess I am safe, right?
I wish you a happy new year to you and your family and lots of happy growing for yet another season.
+John John I can't say how safe you are, depends how much you fertilize, how long you flush your pots and how many ppms are in the water to start with but happy new year!
Is it possible that the medium itself could release dissolved solids as it ages or decomposes?
+EpicPhals very possible, is always good to keep you media fairly fresh
EpicPhals duh..
Could I do this with miracle gro perlite mix? I hand picked the fertilizers from the perlite mix, and I want to also try to leach out these fertilizers using distilled water. This is being done for my venus fly trap.
Thanks for this video ! I assume that I need to flush my pots by now more often ! Happy New Year :)
+Aydhan Ha Your Welcome, happy new year!
Whoa, crazy! Did you fertilize this plant every time you watered in the summer? I underfertilize because I'm lazy and the thought of fertilizer burn scares me, usually I'll fertilize every 3rd watering during the growing season, if that, and in the winter I have to push myself to do it at all.
I probably fertilized it 2x per week with something but in the summer it was flush out a lot more as well.
30 in tap water that is cleen you mentioned a saltwater tank in an other video do you ewen need an RO for that? of course it depends of wath is in the water but still it is such a low number, my tap wather from a private well is arround 600 on a good day and arround 900 on a bad day! the water is good quality just loded with ca! Accually had a saltwater with sps just using tap water for 6 months woreked great just some silica after larger water changes and way too high ca (acctually just got a white cloud once) and mg were a bit high too, but impossible too grow ewen hardy orchids in so an RO is vital for them and eaier with the tanks too no worries about stuff accumulating as it gets older.
I never thougt about checking my plants with a tds (have spare ones since upgrading the RO) I always had a hard time deciding if I need too flush in RO water ore if the tap water will be better since I can flush with more wather then, ore if it might be best too first use tap and then finish with RO so this will really help.
+awaros86 wow 600ppm! that would make things hard....ours is always between 25-30ppm and no I don't bother to use RO water for the reef tank. no point, the tap water is so good. I do have a de- ionizer for if I need water with 0ppm
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening yep werry hard indeed lol we add a tsp citric acid every time we do the dishes otherwise everything gets like sandpaper, fabric softener is a must for clothes and the shower is impossible to keep nice and shiny but at least we get a good amount of calcium to strengthen our bones as well 😆 I forgot to mention that we do have a large filter for reducing lime too 😰 the tds just say error if I test before that 😵. But I really love my spectrapure 180gpd and boosterpump had a cheaper one before it simply could not handle our water the old one took 8 hours just too get 20L (5.2 us gallons was a 90gpd model so not the smallest one and it is a good RO during more normal conditions) now 20L just takes less than one hour ☺ but it is of course more work than just getting water from the tap, it, allso much more expensive and wastes a lot of water, so be thankful for not needing all that even if I'm sure your type of water has challenges too.
if you drop your flush water ph to 5.8 you will more easily disolve the solidified salts. just my 2 cents....
+Simple Carpenter very true, my tap water comes out at 6.6
I flush my orchids with rainwater. Plenty in Holland.
Do you out them outside or collect the rain water?
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening I collect the water, in the Netherlands is usually too cold for orchids outside.
shouldnt you be using clean water for every flush, because you keep using the same one over and over for the plant. So u arent cleaning it verymuch but just putting back the salts.
I agree. I was thinking "he's squirting in water that has already been flushed out of the pot over and over". Next time, use tap water over an empty bucket then check with the TDS meter.
MY PH IS OVER 9000!!! Not really I'd probably melt
That is pretty high!
+Brads Greenhouse & Gardening Yep
Cedric Giles you wouldn't melt you'd explode