| I have actually just gotten back from an eight day trip. I live in South Florida, and I have a majority of my collection as the Vandaceous species, so I water them at least once a day. They were in the middle of rapid growth, and I hated having to leave them outside with such high temperatures, yet out of the rain, under my porch. I put down some extra shade cloth to stop the intense direct sunlight, and put down some large containers of water underneath them for some extra humidity. I also made sure to fertilize a few days beforehand, then watered them heavily the day I left.
I was so nervous the day coming back to see how they were doing, hoping that the plants weren't to dessicated and droopy. I was so happy to see that not only were they doing well, but they barely lost their growing spirit! Their aerial roots just slowed down on their growth, but I expect a full recovery within the week, and one even managed to sprout a new bud while I was gone!
It just goes to show how adaptive these plants can be for the short period of time, and how it takes a lot to really set the plant back a considerable amount of time. (I also had a few catt's, phals, and dend's that haven't even slowed down their growth, but they hadn't been my concern.)  |