You want a large enough bowl or vase to hold all of your orchid’s roots and give them a little extra room to spread out and grow. Your vase also needs to be tall enough to support the stem of your orchid, so it doesn’t topple over.

Step 2: Make sure your orchid’s roots are clean and healthy before placing it in the bowl.

If you are moving your orchid from soil to water, remove all soil from the roots. Check your orchid’s roots for damage, rot or disease and cut off any unhealthy parts of the root. If your orchid is root bound or has tangled roots, gently pull them apart so they can spread out into the water.

Tap water can be fine to use, but it depends on the hardness of the water. Some cities use chemicals to treat the water, which is good for us but not very good for plants. Distilled water is best, and rainwater can also be used, provided you don’t live somewhere with acid rain.

Wet leaves rot, which can weaken the plant, make the water dirty and generally look unattractive. Keep the water level below the lowest leaves, add water slowly and avoid pouring water over the leaves when adding water to the bowl.

As long as the decorations are waterproof and properly sealed, you can decorate your bowl however you like. Fish tank decorations are generally safe, as are rocks in aquariums. Do not add rocks from your garden, as some rocks slowly dissolve in water and add minerals to your water that can harm your plant. Be aware that you may need to clean any decorations you add to avoid algae build-up.