Q Recently I heard of pouring ice water over the roots of some orchid plants to induce the necessary drop in temperature to encourage blooming. What can you tell me about that? Houston does not have a reliable cold season and an artificial method sounds attractive.  What are the pros and cons? Does this technique work with some genera but not others?  What time of year should I do this and how many applications are necessary?

A  Tales of ice cubes rather than ice water have been around for a long time. I think if the ice works it would be most effective for genera like cymbidium that grow well in warmer regions but fail to flower reliably. It is important to plan ahead, as flower initiation is usually well ahead of actual flowering. I would suggest putting ice cubes on top of the potting mix in the early evening for cymbidiums, starting around August 1st. You would need to be diligent and not miss many nights for six weeks. If you finish the treatment mid September, you should expect spikes to appear by late October if you have been successful. The whole process sounds like a lot of work to me and maybe you could get a similar result with much less effort by placing the plants in an airconditioned room for a month or so at night starting early August. My philosophy in orchid growing is always maximum result for minimum effort.  —Andy Easton.