Growing orchids in Florida is fun! You will find as many suggestions as there are growers, however - and this is true for any zone :) While some swear by full sun, I only have certain orchids in full sun (epi radicans, certain dends) Most get a LOT of light, very bright diffused light. My shadehouse is located in full sun, under 50% shade cloth. Rain season is the biggest headache if the drainage is not adequate - but otherwise, it is the best time of the year for orchids to grow. They love the rain and the humidity I grow a LOT of cattleays - lots of Brazilian species..All in clay pots or in baskets, with fast draining medium. Catts will grow in sphagnum moss as well - given lots of light and air movement... The only thing I avoid in my mixes is bark. Bark molds and decomposes so fast during the rain season... I only use either pure sphagnum, lava rock mixes or tree fern mixes Good luck Olya

Seasun, a south window is great, but 5 feet away is too far. You are not giving your phal enough light and it will decline into death if you leave it where it is. Orchids take some time to die, so you'll think you're doing fine, doing ok, maybe not growing like it should. Oh NO!!! What happened to my beautiful orchid???? Here's how where to put the phal figures: phals need about 1000 footcandles of light to grow and bloom. *Outside* at high noon = app 10,000 FC. You are never getting anything near that indoors because of the ceiling and roof of the house cutting off that directly overhead sun. All you are getting is the slanting sun, of much less than 10,000FC. Cut in half by the window glass and screen. Cut in half again *for every foot away from the window*. At 5 feet from your south window you are giving it *100FC or less* by my fairly generous estimate of what your south window actually lets in. In St Louis, I can keep phals *in* a south window with no damage, just far enough from the pane for a shade to slide down. Start moving it closer to the window. The first day move it to about 2 feet from the window. Leave it there a day or two, feeling the leaves where the sun falls on them (if it does). If they are hot, it's too much light, move at least 6" further away. If barely warm or cool, move closer. Repeat above, moving it 6" closer to the window every couple of days til you are at the place where nearer the window = leaves are hot (or it's in the window). There's been a lot of discussion with newbies about how much light to give phals here lately. Mostly newbies wanting to argue for keeping it on an inside wall in a bookcase where it looks great, more experienced growers arguing for more light, LOTS more. Your phal will love you if you do a search for these threads. Use the search function and put in something lilike "phal + light". If you leave it where it is and it dies in 6 months, put it down to needing to learn things the hard way. Actually that's how most of us learned this lesson.

how's this for irony (?)I use to be a potter! But I wasn't into orchids then. I got out of it, sold the wheel, kiln and supplies, and am now kicking myself almost daily. I've checked every online orchid pot I could google. I find plenty of pots for table tops, but no hanging ones that I could put outside for months on end, then have them still attractive enough to be brought inside for a month or two. I guess I better go sign up for a clay class and make them myself, lol. Lori

Thanks for the input, Calvin. I know who has the Centroglossa, but I doubt it is divisable at this point anyhow even if he was willing. Growing Angraecoids got me interested in growing these other little monopodial species, mostly from Asia. Mount 'em and treat them like the Angs. I got an Aerangis unbonata and an Angraecum teretifolium from the Malala order this year (by Botanica). Both came through just fine; the unbonata is just kind of sitting right now but healthy and with some live roots, and the Ang teretifolium (some dispute if it is a linearifolium) never missed a beat and continues to push roots into the treefern mount -- not even a single leaf tip browned during its long voyage from Madagascar. With the currency exchange rate (the US$ vs. Euro) much better this year than last) the plants ended up about $35 each total with S&H, etc. Still a lot of money though. I think I only lost two; an Ang and a leafless. The Aeranthes henrici was an easy grower all the years I had it. All it took was water settling in the leaf axils one cool winter night -- and it was history. I originally got the plant from, of all places, Oak Hill. There are a lot of really nice Angraecoids out there for sale by online dealers - I try to keep track of them - but what I find is this dealer has one I want, another has one I want, another has two I want -- I just don't want to place such a small order and pay an entire shipping bill. I'm cheap; I'm mostly Scot and it shows.