Colorado is NOT good for outdoor chid growing!

[orchidea]

Well, that's for sure. IF you can't grow Epi outside, you can't grow anything outside.
Here is an example of my Epi growing outside in Colorado:
It started budding and blooming right when I took it inside....It blooms from the sub-spike....


That's how burnt and dry poor thing was outside.... It's just how too much sun here is even for Epi, and waaaaaaaaay too dry for any orchid....


You can see even the new growth (the one that grew inside) has some purplish tint by just standing at the South facing window.


It's starting new growths since I have it inside. You can see how much healthier new growth is compare to the old ones.


My Cyms and Dens that were outside didn't do much better either. So, learning from my own mistakes - nothing goes outside next Summer....
Maybe just Cyms, and only for some cold temps in the Fall.....

[Ladyofthelakes]

It feels like a crap shoot with some of my plants. I have one gifted plant that looks all faded out until I put it in the sun and then darkens up and get such pretty burgundy colors, so pretty. With out knowing what kind of plant it is who knows

Really a crap shoot in the dark to me.

[orchidea]

Originally Posted by Ladyofthelakes

..........Really a crap shoot in the dark to me.

Well, you can always move to Colorado... There is planty of sunshine here for everybody. I think Colorado is #1 in the ammount of sunny days, last time I checked. I could be wrong.....
But if you are growing inside the house and don't have a good South, East or West facing window, I think you need good T5 HO lights.....

[11Orchid126]

Even here in New Jersey it's a challenge to find the right amount of morning/afternoon sun for the orchids. I finally found the right spot where they'll get plenty of early morning and the start of afternoon sun, then bright light the rest of the day.

[JLu]

Very few orchids grow in full sunlight. They need to be protected with at least 50% shade and maybe more in mid summer. I use 50% from April until Oct with 30% on top of that from June to September. Since you have a low humidity climate, the plants need very frequent watering. You can grow orchids in Colorado just fine. You just have to adjust your culture to the conditions.

[mayres]

All of us that put orchids outside for the summer are faced with this kind of challenge. The biggest problem is not the continued amount of daily sunlight/sunshine that they get (usually, unless you have fantasies about having them in the sun mid-day), but the aclimation period of moving from indoors to outdoors. It must be done very gradually over several weeks ideally. Start with total (or near total) shade if possible for a day or two and then gradually give them a little more sunshine each day. It took me three years to find the right combination for my 10 cyms - one year not enough sun (no blooms), second year too much sun (burned leaves, some of which are still present) initially and then back to shade - not as many spikes as I should have, and then this past year I lucked out and did pretty well - lots of spikes/flowers! Don't give up. It just takes some trial and error - but try to error on the not enough light side if possible - because you can NEVER turn the sunburned foliage backwards (as you know).........Good luck!

[Stitz]

Originally Posted by JLu

Very few orchids grow in full sunlight. They need to be protected with at least 50% shade and maybe more in mid summer. I use 50% from April until Oct with 30% on top of that from June to September.

JLu,
Selective choice of the plants is the key. I successfully flower some orchids in Maryland, year after year, while I grow them in FULL SUNLIGHT during the months that most of my plants are outdoors.

50+ % shade? Your plants, your strategy, your choice.


--Stitz--

[orchidea]

Thank you all for your interesting comments.
I have one more problem with growing outside I didn't tell you about... - BUGS!!!! I have two big aspens in my backyard which are infested with afids. It's going on for many years since I bought this house and I don't know what to do about it, so I just ignore it. I have noticed that afids liked my Cyms the most after aspens......... The Epi had some very little spidery looking orange things crawling all over...... I have no idea if they were good or bad, but I am glad I don't see them anymore since I took my plants inside....
It is very tempting to take plants outside on the arrival of Spring, and maybe I'll try again using your suggestions, but it's a big challenge.
Thanks again....

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Stitz

50+ % shade? Your plants, your strategy, your choice.

My choice too. Both my greenhouse orchids and my outside orchids are all under 70% shade cloth. I do have a hand full which are not, but they mostly get only morning direct sun. There are certainly a few who can take a lot of direct sun but I think some shadecloth or dappled shade (as in beneath a tree) is a good choice.

[JLu]

The following from the web site shown. Since rupiculous Laelias are some of the best known high light plants, I thought this would be interesting reading:

From: How to Grow Rupicolous Laelias the following:

"Light We are trying to give our orchids the best of culture, and, as with other genera, it is not always necessary (or advisable) to duplicate nature. In the May 1990 AOS Bulletin, James Nickou reported, "I have found that they (rupicolous laelias) will bloom with light levels adequate for most standard Cattleya hybrids. If grown in full sun they will eventually die."

Anyone can go to the AOS web site at AOS | Members Only Area and get culture information on several popular genera. You will find that light level recommendations vary from around 1000 fc for Phals to 3000-4000 for Cattleyas and most everything else is in between. Cyms seem to be able to stand higher levels, possibly direct sun. I don't grow Cyms so I don't know about them.

For your comparison...direct sun at my 38 degrees north latitude location in the summer is 10,000 to 12,000 fc at 12-2 PM. Even on what we consider clear days the dust and clouds in the atmosphere are substantial so the actual 12000 fc days are limited and the average is somewhere between 10K and 12K fc. As you can see 85% transmission through my polycarbonate GH and 50% shade cloth results in about 4675 fc (assuming 11000 direct sun). An additional 30% off that (with additional 30% shade cloth) gives 3300 fc which is basically what I measure with my light meter allowing for some error because the holes in the two shade materials don't line up perfectly. I have to provide a lot of additional internal shading for the Masd and Phal areas of the GH to avoid completely burning them up. Those areas tend to reach a peak of 1500 fc but don't stay that way long as the sun angle plays a big role in my internal shading. I would like to keep them to 1000 fc but can't.

For a couple of years I tried just the 50% shade at mid summer giving actual readings of about 4500 fc in the Catt area. They turned pee yellow and as you know there can be some recovery from this if the leaves are just adjusting their chlorophyll level, but you are on the verge of burning the leaf and they cannot recover from that. The shading I described above gives light green Catt leaves as they should be.

Go read the AOS (and other) recommendations, you don't need my advice or anyone else's. Adjust accordingly for the plants you are growing. Anyone who tells you that you can grow most of the orchids we grow in full sun either doesn't know anything or just wants to pick at me. I suspect a little of both. Go read the recommendations of experts and grow your plants to their best.

[katrina]

Originally Posted by Stitz

50+ % shade? Your plants, your strategy, your choice.


--Stitz--

My choice too. My catts and other high light plants sit on a giant shelving unit my husband built for me a couple year ago...it has a W and SW exposure and it's covered by 70% shade cloth. My highest reading under this cloth (uppermost shelf) is 4000-4500 foot candles when there are no clouds.

I do grow a few plants in nearly full sun but only a very few.

[mayres]

Well noted everyone. In my initial comment I didn't address shadecloth - but this has been done well by the geeks that followed. I have quite a few different sized trees at my place so have been able to find places for some orchids where they get early morning sun and late afternoon sun, but are shaded during the heat of the day - which enables me to grow some orchids outside without shadecloth. However, the majority of the plants I put outside for the summer are under 55% shadecloth (on east side of my home) that still doesn't get any sun after about 11-12 depending upon the time of the season. Even when using shadecloth my experience has been that one should be careful during the aclimation period of moving from indoors to outdoors - take it gradual.

[Stitz]

Perhaps, extra info is needed re: my claim to growing selected orchids in "full sun". I benefit from living less than 100 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. The Chesapeake Bay is only ~ 40 miles away. The tidal Potomac River is ~ 15 miles away. In addition, I live on the fringe of a very large, East coast metro area (DC). The humidity and the "junk" in the air from the west (Kentucky included!) "scatter" light almost all of the time. It is a very, very rare day around the summer solstice when my light meter measures 11,000+ fc here on the 39th+ parallel.

I accomodate my plants. I bring almost all of them in if the temp dives below 40F. I take appropriate precautions when light becomes excessive.

Many of my orchids receive about 4500+ fc; many receive less. Many receive full sun as I have just described.

--Stitz--

[orchids4me]

I see why Mayers uses 55 percent vs 70 plus percent due to his conditions. The Oregon washington areas get what's referred to as sun breaks. They have more clouds than sun and the sun pops out then goes back under clouds. So he needs more light to pass through when it pops out its not nearly as hot as like here in california when it does pop out.
This is something I will also have to adapt to when I move up that way.....
Emmaye

[orchidea]

We have very intense sun rays here in CO. We are one mile closer to Sun and have sun almost every day... I was growing my Epi at the spots with the direct sun....... Few people here on this forum were saying that Epi nees as much sun as it can get. Well, maybe not our CO sun....
I am burning my Catts in the South facing TINTED windows..... I think I'll put screens back into my windows. I have to start using my light meter I guess.
We are going to have bad weather, maybe even snow tomorrow, but I am taking my light meter out on the next sunny day.
I am still learning....

[katrina]

Originally Posted by Stitz

Perhaps, extra info is needed re: my claim to growing selected orchids in "full sun". It is a very, very rare day around the summer solstice when my light meter measures 11,000+ fc here on the 39th+ parallel.



Many of my orchids receive about 4500+ fc; many receive less. Many receive full sun as I have just described.

--Stitz--

Where are you getting your readings? A light meter? Even w/"junk" in the atmosphere I find it very hard to believe that your "full sun" reading is no more than 4500 fcs. Your light meter must be malfunctioning because something is very wrong about that reading.

orchidea -- I can completely see where the sun would be more intense due to your elevation. If I were you, I'd definitely make good use of that light meter. And, as Mike pointed out...acclimate the plants to the stronger light of being outside. In the Spring even my high light plants spend a week-10 days on the front porch (east, morning sun only) before heading to their Summer (s, sw exposure) home. This is done even though they've spent the colder months under HO T5's units reading over 3000fcs.

[JLu]

One more try:

"We have very intense sun rays here in CO. We are one mile closer to Sun and have sun almost every day... I was growing my Epi at the spots with the direct sun"

You're a mile closer to the sun. So that makes you in round numbers 93 million miles less one mile? By the way the sun continues to come up all over the earth every day. It isn't unique to Colorado.

More importantly you have 1 mile less atmosphere for the sun's radiation to travel through. Since there is absorption, diffusion, and particulate scattering that occurs as the sun's radiation passes through the earth's atmosphere, you have higher light levels and higher levels of UV, IR, cosmic rays and any other forms of sun radiation or sun induced radiation.

None of that has barely any effect on your problem with burning orchid leaves. The genus Epidendrum has over a thousand species so I really hate to generalize, but look for yourself, most plants of the genus are recommended to be grown at 2500-3500 foot candles. That's somewhere in the 20-35% range of your full sunlight. So rather than insisting that Colorado is unique from the rest of the world it might be better to realize that full sun in Colorado is 3-4 times more than your plants can tolerate. You need to supply shade if you want these plants outdoors or you are doomed to failure.

[Stitz]

Originally Posted by katrina

Where are you getting your readings? A light meter?

Kat,
I choose to grow most of my Cattleyas at ~ 4500 fc or less. I grow some of my orchids in high light. The great majority are shaded. Many are grown at much lower levels.

I use a Wavetek Meterman LM631 Digital Light Meter
Wavetek Meterman LM631 Digital Light Meter - Test Equipment Depot. It was a surprise gift from a very generous orchid grower.

--Stitz--

[katrina]

Stitz, I guess I misunderstood your initial comment. I thought you were saying that you only get about 4500 fcs in a full sun location...where there is no shade or other protection. Sorry if I misunderstood.

I agree...I've selected the shade cloth I use in order to keep my fcs no higher than 4500 for the majority of my high light plants. Preferably a bit lower than that and since we do get a good deal of cloud action most days, my upper limit is often not experienced for long periods on any given day.

The few that get full afternoon sun only see it for a couple/few hours and they are plants such as my Luisia teretifolia that lives in full sun in it's native habitat.

[11Orchid126]

As for the bugs, aphids are no problem, you can hose them off. If you can, use soapy water, a few drops of dish liquid, Murphy's Oil Soap, or Dr. Bronner's peppermint soap (health food store) to a gallen. If you get a hose-end sprayer, this will take care of your aspens, too. It may even take care of the orange thingys also, as bugs hate soap. If not, you may have to go to a systemic.