Orchid roots sit inside sphagnum or bark, so touching the surface tells you very little about what is happening underneath. Weighing the pot is the reliable alternative. Measure the pot once right after watering and once when it has dried out, and from then on this page converts a single current weight into moisture left as a percentage and compares it with the threshold you set for yourself.
The water a pot holds is the watered weight minus the dried-out weight, and moisture left is the weight now minus the dried-out weight, divided by that capacity. The comparison runs at the one decimal shown on screen, so the figure and the verdict never point in opposite directions. The table lists the pot weight at several moisture levels, which lets you decide from the scale alone.
Watering intervals by variety and indoor temperature and humidity are not published by an official source. The threshold is therefore yours to set, the page offers no variety list, and repotting and feeding are outside its scope. Water standing in the saucer skews the reading, so emptying it before weighing gives a cleaner figure. Current as of October 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Weigh the pot just before you would normally water, at the point where it has stopped losing weight. Measure it once and then only the current weight changes.
No official value is published, so you decide. The table shows the pot weight at each moisture level, which makes a figure for your own setup easier to pick.
Yes. New media or a new pot changes both reference weights, so the watered and dried-out figures have to be taken again.