inside or out

[boxerfan]

Last year my orchids stayed outside for most of the Summer and Fall. The Summer temps range from the mid 80's to the high 90's (occasionally up in to the 100-105 range); the humidity runs from 90% in the early morning to 40% during the majority of the day. My collection in mostly Phals., Oncidiums and a few Paphs. There is also one Dendrobium, one Epi and one Vanda. During the bulk of the day, the light ranges from 1500 fc to 3000 fc depending on what part of the porch is being used. Unfortunately, my orchids don't look happy. I had 7 out of 20 spike while I still had them indoors, but there have been no new spikes since they moved outside. Should I bring them indoors? The are where they stay indoors ranges in temp from 68-78, humidity is usually 40%-50% and light runs from 1000 fc to 2500 fc.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. TIA, Lisa

[Aleksa]

In my climate (subtropical, mediteranean), I keep all my chids outside during the spring, summer and fall. In winter I keep them inside. I really believe that they must experience some harsh conditions in order to stay healthy. By harsh conditions I mean periods when they experience higher temps than recommended, higher light levels, lower humidity. I believe that plants become stronger and they adapt easier to new conditions.

Summer here is very very dry and hot and I must water them at leas every other day. I water them in late afternoon, actually, I wash them in bath... I feel that they like that, maybe that reminds them on tropical rains. During the night they have optimal conditions, higher humidity, lower temps and in the morning they are fresh and ready to fight with new hot wave during the day. This method works for me, although there is the rule that they mustn't be watered at night but in my case there is no danger of rot, there is much air movement, and temps aren't low... When I used to water them in morning, they couldn't take in much water because it evaporates very fast during the day. Like this they have one whole night to refresh and plump up.

They also experience dry and wet cycles in nature...

Only orchid that hate being outside in summer is phalaenopsis. I have problems with growing them because they hate such extremes, they like house...

Please, don't understand those my directions as a rule because this is something what works for me, but that doesn't have to mean that the same will work for you. It all depends on your growing space, climate etc...

[made4engineering]

Trust me - temps above 90 are BAD. I had to learn the hard way: Growth stopped, leaves started to die, buds fell off, root tips stopped growing, etc. Now that I have my temps back in the mid 80s, everything is starting to grow again.

[Aleksa]

Originally Posted by made4engineering

Trust me - temps above 90 are BAD. I had to learn the hard way: Growth stopped, leaves started to die, buds fell off, root tips stopped growing, etc. Now that I have my temps back in the mid 80s, everything is starting to grow again.

Yes. I also noticed that. But short periods of those temps will not harm the plant. The temps here in summer raise above 40 degree Celsius, that is extremely hot. If those temps last longer than few weeks, plants stop to grow. I mist them a lot and give them much water to cool them down, but only night is relief. Grrr... I wish I could come to live in Florida....

[kmarch]

All of your summer conditions sound find to me except for the 40% afternoon humidity. That sounds low to me, especially for Phals and Paphs. That low humidity level will cause mixes to dry out faster. You may find that you have to water more frequently when you move your plants outside for the summer.

made4engenering may have had problems with orchids in temps over 90F and I dont' know which orchids gave the trouble, but when I lived in Michigan and all of my outdoor orchids here in Australia all experience(d) temps over 90F and if the humidity was high enough that the didn't become parched, there was no problem. I started seeing signs of stress when it was that hot and my humidity dropped below 50-55%.

The underlying principal is this: an orchid (be it a paph, phal, or other) needs the conditions it needs regardless of where it is grown and it's up to us to adjust all of the details. So for example if we're growing a mottle leaf paph, which likes to stay gently and evenly moist, indoors in the winter and outdoors in the summer, we might find it needs to be watered every 2 or 3 days in summer but maybe only once a week in winter to maintain that level of moisture.

Does that make sense?