I say go for it John! I think you'll really be happy with outdoor results vs. indoor results for most catts.

It would bring a smile to my face to look up and see blooming catts in the concrete jungle.

Thanks Clint! Silly getting excited about three "paltry" cattleyas, but that's a lot better than none! I just knew the gods wouldn't be mean enough to make me love 'em and then put me in an apartment where I can't grow 'em. I hope that's going to be enough light.... Maybe I'll bloom that George King 'Serendipity yet!

John

There isn't much time left for this year, as the nights are getting cooler, and catts can't take much cold. But certainly for early next spring. Just think, you'll have all winter anticipating the outdoor vacation.

I grow many catts on my east-facing sun porch and they bloom (granted they get supplemental light in the winter).

Go for it!

Depending on the species, and local global warming, you may get another month or two before they have to come inside for the winter, and if you get really into it, you can put 'em out for the day and take 'em in at night!

Jim

There should be plenty of time for them to benefit from the outside this year. Lovely bright sun in the day and that great drop at night. I'll take them in when temps dip below 50 or so. They're all still in growth, one with two sheaths.

Hope y'all don't mind if I give you a blow by blow. I noticed last night that the top of my air conditioner window unit seemed to offer much better support than a slanting narrow window ledge (not to mention being lots bigger - 26" x 21"!). Might have space for six instead of three.

I'm starting small with what I have on hand, which includes a nice high-sided wire grid basket (large enough for the three catts I have now) and a nylon quick release strap from backpacking days. I have room for a basket twice as large and I'll expand when I feel safe that no-one's going to call the cops on me. I wonder what the fine would be?

This morning, after leaning outside my 15th-story adjacent window so I could catch the dangling end of the quick-release strap from the far side of the air conditioner with a coat hanger and thread it through the ac struts, I felt like I'd probably created enough of a spectacle for one morning. Tonight under cover of darkness I'll get the basket out there and secure it with the strap. The plants'll have their first lovely night outside. That basket isn't going anywhere, barring a tornado, in which case we're all screwed anyway. And the sides are high enough that the plants can't get blown out under any but violent conditions.

My concern (aside from prison) is this: We all know that you need to acclimate indoor plants gradually to sun. So I'm worried they're going to cook. In my favor, there is usually quite a breeze up there! That should help ALOT. I thought about draping cheesecloth over them for the first couple of weeks or so. Because of the air conditioner, there is hardly any clearance to be continually taking the plants in and out - they have to be tilted almost horizontally to make it. The ones in sphagnum don't present a problem, but one is in aliflor and of course that all spills out, as I discovered at 3:00 a.m. when I woke up and decided to experiment.

I'm definitely earning my place as a nutty orchid person.

J

hello, John, I have to say that addiction brings out the most creative part of us. and I am thinking that you may take first prize. I would love to hear about other's creative solutions to further feed their addiction. sort of like in business: share your best practices so we can all learn.

sue

You go, guy! Catts in the City.

Maybe clamping/bending a piece of hardware cloth over the top and side of each pot would keep the mix from spilling & allow air circulation.

The cheesecloth sounds good.

The first night I had orchids outside, I woke up a couple of times, happy they were in "real" air. Yes, blow by blow.

Whitecat8

I lived on the 12th floor and put long window-boxes outside my Riverside Drive windows. I hired the Super to bolt them to the frames. Grew Petunia's. Pre Orchids....they flowered all summer. Even grew herbs...didn't worry about water running out. By the time the water gets down 12 floors, it blows away. At least, that's what I told myself.

I say - go for it,

Jane

Two Actuaries were walking along a street in Sydney when one was hit on the head by a falling flower pot. (true). Wonder what the chances of that are?????

Hey, John, I have an even better idea. Buy a section or two of iron trellis (wood would work) and nail (?)the trellis outside the window. Buy the sections small enough that you can both lift them yourself and they fit through the window to bring them inside when the time comes. Lash the pots to the trellis with tie wraps so you can either cut the pots off or lift the trellis, pots and all, back into the house. Why settle for a window box? A piece of screening over the pot is all you need to hold in the medium, or, just grow them naked. This time of the year, you don't need to worry about burning them, the sun has dropped far enough in the sky that even in NC, I would have moved them all to a full southern exposure by now.

I did this with an 8 x 2 section of trellis when I first moved here and lived where there were too many trees, making me need to maximize my sunny spots. Of course, I can't relate to living 15 stories up.

Laura, very intriguing idea! I could get the wood trellis the entire height of a double hung window, and about half the width (so I have working space from the side) and it could rest on the ledge and also be suspended with wire from heavy eyehooks screwed into the inside frame. Just leave enough of a crack in the upper window for the wire to pass through. That would be QUITE a blatant display though - I'd lay odds on someone calling the authorities. Street traffic may not even notice, but I have neighbors directly across the way who would get an eyefull every time they glanced out their windows. Psychologically, six or eight hanging pots would set off more red flags than three pots sitting on top of a big air conditioner in a high-sided wire basket, don't you think? It's a stunning idea, though. I won't forget it. Thanks!

The catts were out all day Saturday and Sunday and got sun from early morning til almost two o'clock. Stiff breezes and no burning! Today it's darkly cloudy with thunderstorms predicted so I took them in since two are in sphag. If they were in aliflor I'd probably leave them. In fact, maybe I'll put that one back out.

Hope rises from the ashes like a phoenix. Thanks so much for the support, everyone.

J

Paint the pots and trellis in such a way that from a distance it looks like a window.

Tuezday, you are bad! Love that criminal mind. Whitecat8

So it's been several days with the new outside arrangement. No complaints, no scary men in cop uniforms banging on my door with their nightsticks. (Darn)

Ironically, one of the catts decided to bud - gorgeous green floof from Carmelas. Ironic because I'm sure this was not due to two days of outside exposure. And this orchid has been through a lot. Bought it at the NYIOS in Spring 2006, decided it would never do anything and threw it out, none too gently either. I told a friend at the office about it the next day and she made me promise to rescue it and repot it. Amazingly it's been the strongest grower I have. The budded growth is strong, of reasonable size, but certainly not "strapping." No sheath for this bud, though I can see it has made sheaths before. Seems I might have a winner.

J