types of orchids to move outdoors

16 years ago

I'm looking for some advice on moving my orchis outside as opposed to keeping them indoors.

Two months ago I moved all orchids out to a screened porch that gets morning and afternoon sun. The usual temps are mid 90's in the afternoon. My catts and dends are thriving and lovin' every minute of it. The phals and cyms on the other hand really looked unhappy with yellowing droopy leaves. So I brought them back inside.

I was expecting the extra humidity to be a benefit, but we are in a drought condition and our humidity has been unusually low - 18-20% at times.

I'm wondering if it was just too hot out there for the phals and cyms. Are they better left indoors where summers are as hot as they are here in TN?

I hadn't moved my 2 oncidiums out because they are in bloom. Should I leave them in the house all summer too?

This is my first summer with more than just phals, and it's an exceptionally dry one. I was under the impression that I needed to move everything outside so that the span of temps day to night (diurnal?) in fall encouraged them to spike.

Everything I read seems to say exactly what temp range each type of orchid needs, but I'm having problems translating that to real life.

Any help would be appreciated.

Chris

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Comments (7)

bradarmi
16 years ago
I am a litle North of you, and Chicago summer is usually hot and humid. You can minimize the heat at least with the cymbidiums - you can bury them in the perenial border and keep them shaded. I sometimes mix my cymbidiums in with the daylilies. I usually keep the phals in a shady-breezy spot in a screened porch/sunroom where I can easily mist/water them. Maybe leave them in the house until the humidity is back up.
mehitabel
16 years ago
Your dends and catts should find the porch, with morning and afternoon sun, but shade overhead at midday, just perfect.

Oncids need good light, too, just a tiny bit less than catts. Your oncids can go outside when they're thru flowering. Be sure to acclimate them slowly to the higher light, and keep them a little further back from the edge of the porch than the catts.

If you can run a fan out there, just to create a small breeze, that's helpful to them in the heat.

If your phals are stressed out on the porch, by all means bring them inside for the next two (hottest) months. You can bring them back outside when the weather cools a little in September.

The amount of sun appropriate for catts is way too much for phals. This time of year I find the sun after 9:30 feels hot on my skin, and phal leaves start to get warm/hot. After that they need shade -- something close to 90% shade til maybe 4pm.

Mine definitely had heat stress in the form of slight flaccidity at the end of the hot days. I decided to bring them in, and am now trying just a couple out there for another week.

I believe what happens is that the roots can't supply enough moisture for transpiration in the very high heat, so the leaves get wilty.

It might work for you to just set them back further from the edge of the porch. The leaves should feel cool at all times. You have to feel them several times during the day to make sure.

But by all means, bring them in if you need to. You can always put them outside when the temperatures cool a little in early September. The longer, cooler nights in fall seems to help some of them set spikes.
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ifraser25
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All my orchids live outdoors all the time. Well I am lucky as we get no frost. I would say that all orchids enjoy outdoor conditions. The problem is that orchids ( like some people) are slow to accept change, so some will not adjust as quickly as others. I'm surprised your Cymbs didn't like being out of doors. One of the probs moving plants to a much sunnier position is sunburn, you may have to shade them well at first.
claritamaria
16 years ago
I've got a little of everything out this summer. So far so good. My outdoor light conditions are harsher than a porch though. The oncids have a couple leaves with a couple freckles, I lost one leaf entirely. I have 1 red PB on a noid, it doesn't seem to mind. It has explosive root growth, beauties! They are adjusting rather well, growing fast, getting light green, a coulour I had almost forgotten! I also have my "hospital" phals out and Bellina's and Bellina hybrid. No protesting at all. They are in lava rock in a s/h container or some similar mix.

I have many in s/h and the rest in bark mix. The ones in s/h seem to have made the adjustment better. More light/heat is more water. Even though I gave them a good soak down before i put them out, I probably did not water the bark mix quite enough the first few days. It was during the heat wave.

If you put your orchids out, keep a close eye on the water. Even though I thought I did, I had underestimated/forgot how water-demanding outdoors can be. I don't think its possible to overwater outdoors but I am working with minimal shade.

Clara
toyo2960
16 years ago
I have both greenhouses and a shade house in southern california. The cattleyas do well both inside and out. But the phalies stay in the greenhouse where it's much more shaded (in the area I grow them) and the humidity is much higher. I would keep the phalies indoors if it's too bright and hot. Cymbidiums are always grown outside in S. California under my shade cloth. Oncidiums grow outside too. Miltonias and Odonts need high humidity and should be in a cool greenhouse.
housenewbie
16 years ago
If you have a dense tree--oak, maple--they might like being under there better. I think it's cooler than a porch (unless the porch is on the N side of the house) and also there's more humidity from the tree transpiration.

Mine are on lower shelves in a lattice house. I just took the sheet down that was shading the south side (didn't want them getting sunburned, as it was quite hot when I took them out).
sunita
16 years ago
Why dont you try keeping the floor of your porch wet for a few days? That seems to work for my phals which are outdoors in our blazing hot summers. I try to water all the plants lightly twice a day when its really hot and soak the ground too so the temperature comes down a bit.

types of orchids to move outdoors

Comments (7)

bradarmi

mehitabel

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