c. berlin

I have a small collection with a lot of phals, and a few dendrobiums, paphs,
cymbidiums, masdevalias, oncidiums, lc, and a brassia, odontoglossum,
angraecum, and a vanda.
They spend all winter on shelves in front of patio door windows, and all
summer on my back porch.
My question is when is a good point to move them outside? I live in
Pittsburgh, PA, and nights here are now mostly in the 50's, occasionally in
the high 40's. I know of course that different species have different
requirements here. I've put the masdevalias out already but none of the
rest yet. What I've read would seem to suggest that the cymbidiums could
also probably go out now, maybe I should wait another week or two on the
phals, and hold back the vanda and agraecum awhile later. I will appreciate
any suggestions from the amazing collective experience that you all bring to
this newsgroup.
Thanks,
Chuck Berlin

tenman

I'm probably very close to your weather here at roughly the same
lattitude, three hours west of you in Columbus, OH. Until I built the GH
last year, I spent a good 12 years taking the plants out of the
growrooms for the 'summer' and back in in the fall. At first I was able
to take them out in mid-March, though I did have to cover them a few
times at night when the temps dipped below 50, and occasionally left
them out through cold spells with some minor heat (indoor house temp air
blown in) if I thought they would have another month out before temps
dipped for good. There are pics and info on my page at: (click on the
'see detailed pics'link)

http://www.orchidcourt.com/outside.html

They stayed out til November with the same few nights covered. The last
couple years, they haven't been able to go out til mid-May and had to
come back in by early- to mid-Sept, using the same temperature
guidelines I had always used, 50 degrees. I consider any month with
frost to be winter, so we now have nine months of winter and three of
summer, thanks to global COOLING. Unfortunately no spring or fall here,
which are my favorite seasons.

So, to sum up, I think anything can go out and stay out as long as
nights aren't below 50. Paphs, especially parvis, would like to be out
til it's 40 or so, as would disas, masdevallias, laelias (all kinds,
including brazilian and rupicolous) odonts, etc. An occasional dip into
the 40s isn't going to hurt catts either. BUT phals, vandas, etc, and
psychopsis, catasetinae, bulbos, and brassias do NOT want to ever go
below 50. And I say 50 for plants that have been outdoored through the
growing season. They are more temp hardy than say a vanda grown in Key
West, never below 70 in its life would be to be suddenly subjected to 50
degrees.

Best solution, increasing the time outside possibly by a month or two at
each end, is to put them out in such a way they can be covered and
enclosed to the ground on the occasional below-50 night. I did this with
a couple thousand plants, so with less it may be a bit easier.

Cyms, on the other hand, I hear from those who grow them (I have only
one) should be left out til they experience temps in the upper 30's to
set spike.

Hope this helps.

Tennis

kenni judd

The Odont. would probably enjoy some cold. On the Dens, it depends which
kinds. The "evergreen" types will drop leaves at or near 50F, but some of
the others also enjoy cooler temps. Phals, if not in spike/bud/bloom, will
handle 40F. Most brassias like it hot, so you might want to hold that with
the vanda and angraecum, for last to go out. Kenni

v_coerulea

Could you look into adding some polycarbonate sheets onto your back porch?
They can be made removeable and cut to any size to fit the openings you
have. That way you can have an unheated sun room in the winter, move your
plants out in Spring without worry and then remove them for the summer. Here
in SC, plants like amaryllis, cymbidiums, azaleas, and primulas bloom all
winter on the back porch visible through the sliding glass doors. If the
temps go below 20 outdoors (a few times a winter) then we either move the
plants in or crack the door to circulate some heat to the porch. Twinwall
holds in the heat very well and has been a great investment.
Gary

c. berlin

My back "porch" is really a deck with a railing. I've put up some lattice
work above where the orchids go, but there's no framework to further enclose
this. My family asks me from time to time why I don't put up a greenhouse.
I know that I'll never get to the next level of orchid growing without doing
this, but it seems like this would then take a very large amount of time,
energy, and expense to go forward with and maintain. While the rewards
would be potentially great, I think that at this point I'm at about the
right homeostasis for energy expended vs. enjoyment gleaned.
Thanks for your suggestion.
Chuck Berlin