My greenhouse is kept at 60F lows in the winter, rarely goes much above that during the day, and although my species and hybrid Phals do alright at that temp, they don't really like it. Most Phals prefer warm to hot temperatures and do best in the 70-90F range. But they make it through my 60F winter nights, although the spikes on the hybrids usually are delayed as they slow down and even stop growing until the temps get warmer. The species Phals usually bloom in the summer and don't spike during the coldest months anyhow so that is not an issue. My suggestion to you is to keep them as warm as you can. 50F is definitely too low, even 60F is a bit low to keep them completely happy. But put them in the warmest location you have in the house and let it go from there. They should do okay and grow for you. (Don't go by the house thermostat but rather check the high and low temps exactly where the plants are) Arthur, I leave my lindenii (and wilsonii) outdoors all winter down to just a tad above freezing, and keep them in the air-conditioned house during the summer heat. These are cool-growers and will croak if kept with other Phal species and hybrids in warm temps.

x - Thanks for the "rambling" - it's very helpful as this is my first winter with a number of these plants. I think I am comfortable with the location I have in mind for them, except that the temps may not be as cool as required. I am, however, planning to keep it a bit cooler in there this year, as I think in seasons past I have kept it too warm (I am trying to keep some tropical and subtropical bonsai happy in there, too). By cool, I mean 50-55 at night, 60s during the day. Should that, coupled with the lower light intensity, be enough to keep them dormant so that they are not encouraged to push leggy growth? I guess I will find out... Thanks, again. Tom BTW, where do you "shop" for your caudiciform and pachycaul plants?

I posted this in a new thread, but it's prevalent to this as well, please answer these questions to the best of your knowledge, thank you: Hey all, so my manager calls me in today and tells me things are going slow for me as far as picking up on things that I should be picking up on, and I four weeks ago switched from MR/DD to Vet Assistant and now I completely feel like crap about it. I feel like I want to find a new job because in my mind, the worse thing before buying a home in a few months is to be fired. Here's the whole situation: I make 30k a year. My fiance 46k. I made 23k two years ago (first time working full time since I was doing temp work and not doing much with my life), and then 26k last year. This new job got us 4k more (but it's weird because hours aren't set, even though I make 14.50 an hour rather than 12.50, it's 35 hours due to being charged an hour for lunch break, and the hours change weekly) So, basically I want out. I have a job interview I did, $33k a year (around $15.50 an hour) but no benefits ($350 stipend towards Obamacare). Another open position at a day care center for $10.50 an hour) - $21,00 a year. I don't believe the position at the day care center is a smart move. Definitely not. I feel my days are numbered with this new job - I feel, what's the point of putting so much energy in if I'm just going to potentially get fired? Why learn more? It's not the type of job where they train you. See, this job was open because five people left in a row. I was hired, then a few others and I feel that maybe I'm the weak link. I have ADHD, I don't learn too well, but I am a hard worker. The manager basically said that she knows I'm engaged, and changed jobs and looking to start my life and that she understands that, etc. She didn't fire me, but I feel I'm on the firing line. Makes me feel like crap. I live at home, I plan on buying a home in 2016 (winter). I am curious if dropping down to let's say $12.00 an hour (roughly $1350-$1400 a month) from what I make now $14.50 is going to affect us getting a mortgage? I can ask my mortgage broker directly but I'd rather not. I wonder if we will be scrutinized and asked about it. When I spoke to my mortgage broker, we talked about down payments and we will be doing a $200-250k down payment so based upon 70k (the broker estimated at 6k less to round it out) he said with 200k down we can afford up to a $480k home) - We wouldn't even consider buying anything NEAR there, but it's good to see that 6k less (gross), which would be probably $11.50 an hour I would guess, would still net us a good pre-qualification. We are looking up to $420k home, pref something in the mid to late $300k). At times I wish I just had a simple, secure job. Something 9-5, full time, benefits. My new job has been crazy scheduling and weekends non stop. Sometimes I forget what day it is. It's a good change of pace from my old job, but not a forever job and I knew this. I do make half that money doing video work on a monthly basis so supplementing some extra money is helpful, as long as there's work and there has been for many years, so that's good. But it does concern me with the drop in pay if I decide to try not to get fired and to find something before getting fired. Is being fired and totally getting another career going to stop us from getting a home? Some people may say yes, some may say no. I will say that I am not completely happy with my job and the hours are 32-38 hours, varying and I want a full time set 40 hour work well. Or how would it look if I took a part time with benefits job and did that, and supplemented my money other way? For example $1,000 a month. So to go from $1,400 a month to $1,000 a month, will that stop us from getting a mortgage? I'm trying to figure out options here. My love is video but video jobs full time are in NYC and the cost of a train monthly is $400-500 bucks. It's insane. I've been thankful to work close to where I live and to be successful making consistent money every week with video work. It really helps and will help once we get a mortgage.So, I am interested in hearing everyones thoughts.

Today I pretty much finished planting out tomatoes. 6 plants in the raised beds, one in the wine barrel, one or two more in pots on the porch. The rest of the raised beds will be for peppers and eggplants in a week or two. Ignore the weeds; we've had a wet spring and everything that didn't come up last year is making up for it now. I would have started earlier, but the weather just is not cooperating. It's been unseasonably cold for most of May, with a few 80+ days thrown in here and there. Snow flurries last Friday. Cloudy and cool. I think I have your weather, Sey. Please take it back :) Believe it or not, this week is the most favorable it's been all spring. So I went for it. Hopefully the plants will acclimate before this weekend when I'll be gone for 4 days and I can't keep an eye on them.