Well, I just grow for the flowers, and the more the better, so I ended up making phals my priority, tho I still have some oncids and a few catts.

I definitely don't grow for unusualness or to challenge my skills or anything like that.

With phals, what I have read suggests they will grow year round if warm and well-lit. So that's what I go for-- make a warm, well-lit place for them, no rest. I want them to grow as much as the circumstances will allow. And I want to see the growth all winter.

Also, I believe the outdoor season is too short to sustain a plant for a whole year. I do think for most (except the highly specialized dry-season ones), they are better off it they can grow at least some in winter too.

How dry? I try to keep warmth, light, air and water/fert balanced. Obviously, if they're out of balance, the plant will suffer. But to me, precision is for the tax man. For plants, I just use my hunches. When they are wrong, the poor thing just expires unless I catch on in time :)

I know there are orchids that are specialized for a dry rest in winter, but I just happen not to own any.

I enjoy my hour or so a day down in the light room-- it's a bright, pleasant place. All white and green and brightly lit. If I leave the door open, the cats will visit. Put some New Orleans Jazz or Rag Time on, and go down there and poke around and whistle for an hour or so. Kill a few scale.

Absorbs your attention completely, keeping the mind off niggling worries. Good for the soul, and why I have always gardened. So I would be sorely deprived if there was a whole winter with no new growth to measure and gloat over. The growth down in the plant room and the flowers are what make winter bearable for me.

Whitecat once wrote something about "the light under the plant room door", and I hafta tell ya, it's a beautiful, beguiling thing, that slash of light beckoning you to come in and count the new little specks of leaves starting.

Thanks Mehitabel! It makes me want to go down into your orchid room!! Sounds fun! Nice way to pass time when snow is about too, good music, flowers and bright light! I have my plants and office together in winter for that beconning light reason! (It also gives me plenty of time for Orchid Compulsive Disorder)

I know there are other "specialists" out there. Would you tell us your winter rest or unrest stories?

Clara

My winter tip - don't leave the windows open in the orchid room when it's -20 F. Generally speaking, orchids sulk after that.

I'm in NE Georgia. Our average first frost comes about Oct 15th, so I'm just beginning to arrange the shelving, groom the plants, and think about what groupings will optimize winter care both for them and for me. All the phals and paphs have been moved to the indoor plant light so I can see what's left that needs GH space. I only have an 8 x 10 and I willingly violate every rule I can think of about not overcrowding. Therefore, this year the mostly catts and oncidium alliances have been systemic bug and systemic fungus treated before the move. Scale loves closed in spaces. I have to leave room for the fans. They are critical to orchid health. All the advice to avoid drafts has definitely not been my experience. The more air movement the better - as long as it doesn't come with names like Katrina, or Opal or Ivan. I downsized by about 50 plants. With 150 on the plant lite, about 380 are waiting for GH space. But back to the topic .... with the heat this summer, I was watering daily or every other day. Usually in the winter I water weekly. I'm going to try to move that to every 10 days in the GH. That means doing half the GH about every 5 days so I can keep the humidity up for the other half. I have no foggers or misters. The paphs and phals inside the house have different needs. The paphs demand fertilizer and twice-a-week watering when inside. It's almost like they think the flourescents are brighter than their outdoor shady spot. I tell them that can't be, but their leaves start to yellow until I feed them something... so I go with what works. Three are in bloom and about 5 have low buds.

My heat lovers went into the GH first. The Vanda, all seedlings, angraecum, dracula, pleurothallis. Please let me know if any of these need the cold. I have too many to keep up with that very well. I was told my Cirr Elizabeth wasn't blooming for me because she needed to chill. This year she will. I'm keeping out the neo, hybrid minis with s (sophronitis) in their initials, and the paph armeniacum because I've read they need the cooler temps. Every winter the cymbidiums get farmed out to an old school turned office building that has an unheated hallway with windows. The cymbidiums bloom like crazy. I water them lightly weekly and take the bows. The buds always blasted in my 50's-at-night crowded GH. Maybe I'll add to this later as I continue to think thru the process. Sherlene

A most timely post Clara - and should be made into a sticky or FAQ for beginners such as myself. A month ago, from this board I'd learnt about winter care for phalaenopsis species - thank you all again!

What about winter care for chinese cymbidiums (ensifolium, kanran, sinense, formosanum)? Am a windowsill (southeast) grower in Zone 6/Boston, and new to these. Current plan is to cut down watering to at most once a week. These cymbidiums are in clay pots with lava rock + fir bark. Will winter night temp range 40-50F (4-10C) and day temp range that's +10F/6C higher damage them? Reading about the native environment of these species on the web suggests to me that this plan should be OK? Thank you in advance!

Hi Sherlene and Chip!

Sherlene. Lucky lady to have a G/H! The pleuros will need stable year round temps, mid 70's day (not above 80) and mid 50's at night lowest. The like a 20 -25 diural range (day night temp difference) You may want to put your Dracs in the cool part of your g/h. They should be getting decent light. I know many growers give them approaching catt light. I do mine. I grow them indoors and had some out this summer. They are spiking. They need good air movement as fungus is very prevolant with Dracs. The thin leaves are highly suspectable and can quickly ravage tender leaves. Black tiny dots cluctered tight together are burn or over heating. Larger very round spots are fungus for Dracs. If you have a G/h and good humidity I would not recommend misting dracs as a cooling method, as fungus can happen all to fast.

Dracs and most common pleuros do not rest or have a large water reduction in winter. I have high RH indoors so my watering does decrease in winter. My Humidity is sufficient to carry them a bit longer than the average indoor grower's.

Chip, I don't grow Cyms but I do know they take lower night temps. The days may need to be a bit higher. I am sure there is someone on the forum that can answer about the cultural needs of Cyms. I kind of recall mid 70's day for winter but don't quote me on it. I grow some other asian orchids and they do get some extreme temps by orchid standards

Its a little early to cut back on the water. But just a preview of things to come! Here in Chicago it is summer again! Mid to upper 80's through month's end. You may get the same. Again not growing cyms, but once a week may be too much water, depending on your conditions and medium choice. There is nothing I can think of except Pleuros in my collection that get watered that frequently in winter. Light remains as plentiful as you can get during rest. Just the water changes.

If you have not discovered The Baker's culture sheets, they are a great investment. It will give you an idea of the needs of your plants, conditions and type of rest needed. Link below. If I have a primary hybrid, I will request the culture for both parent plants and take it from there!

Clara

I have the 7-day weather forecast coming up on one of the tabs I open every day on my Firefox. Thursday we are going down to 44, so the heater will be on and the greenhouse shut up at night for the first time this summer. I will turn on the fourth fan in the greenhouse that circulates the air above the heater.

I have started cutting back on water and am reviewing which of my plants needs a dry winter rest. I have more Dendrobiums in that category this year and some of my Encyclias also. In about six weeks I will turn the automatic watering off entirely and change to hand watering for the Vandas and Masdevallias.

I am silently sitting here, after reading the first (Claritamaria)email, and I am thinking, "I live in Miami. What do I do now after reading this?"

All this talk of ferts. I use Dynamite 13-13-13. The most I do is cut back on watering come November/December thru. I feel so like an inept mother.

Dendrobium nobiles need a dry, cold, sunny winter rest. I stop all fertilizer at the end of August, all water at Thanksgiving. I don't resume watering until buds are very well developed, and then only baby sips until after bloom is finished. For the regular den nobiles this may meed a couple of months, and for the Yamamoto type nobiles this may mean four weeks or so.

The cattleyas need less fertilizer, down to 1/2 teaspoon, and then in the dead of winter down to 1/4 teaspoon, but I do still feed them, and water once a week.

Phals grow all year long, so are fed and watered regularly.

Catt_lover Gardener
I am giggling. You're not a bad Mum at all. That's what I used to do in Miami. SOBE was swinging, I forgot I had orchids for much of season :-) Ignoring orchids works in a sub-tropical climate during winter . Many of us are trying to emulate Miami winters in Northern indoor climates. I think sometimes people don't understand that Miami is a not 365 day / year tropical steamy sweat box or that Miami people own and use sweaters and jackets!

Thanks Orchid 126 for the geat info. I don't grow too many Dens. What is a Yamamoto type nobile?

Clara

Yamamoto was/is a prolific breeder of nobile type hybrids. Though to talk about a Yamamoto type just causes confusion.

For example, Den. Yukidaruma was bred by Yamamoto ages ago and is an "Old Fashioned Type" in that it is about to bloom from pseudobulbs/canes that matured over a year ago.

The newer types will produce blooms from the latest mature growth and do not need the degree of chilling needed that the older hybrids and the species.

The specialist growers around here just treat them all the same and do not worry about who produced the orchid. You just leave them out in the weather in your shadehouse and nature will do the rest. I've only got a few and they survived the coldest night of the year (1C) without fuss.