If a Phal got some early morning direct sun from an eastern window, it would be ok, but south window sun will bake it right away.

The only way a south window would be good is if the plant were back a couple of feet. Morning sun never hurt any plant. Feel the leaves when the sun is on it. If they're cool, okay. If hot, move it back.

Good choice, jamie. Phals are easy and very rewarding to grow.

I agree with richard. Your phal is in the perfect spot in your east window, with some early morning sun. It should happily thrive and bloom fine in that exposure. You definitely don't want to "bake" it.

I have no east windows, and therefore put my blooming phals into a south window, but the sun there is only in the morning til 1:30 or so, less later in the year. Even so, I have to run fans across the leaves to keep the leaves from burning in March and April.

Good luck with your new phal.

It really depends on your particular window. I currently grow my phals in a southern window, however they are about 8" away from the window (in the second row behind a few other plants) and since the window is only about 2 feet wide they only get direct sun for a few hours a day. This is the best I can do for them in winter.

Since it sounds like you might have pretty large windows, I would suggest keeping your phal in the eastern window and seeing how it does. It should grow a new leaf every 3 months or so. If you feel that it could use an energy boost you can try moving it to the southern window. If the light there is too much (the leaves feel warm to the touch), you can try moving it further back or putting a few other plants in front of it to protect it from the strongest rays. Of course remember that whenever moving an orchid to higher light you should do it gradually so that it can become acclimated to the new light levels.

Also, an important aspect of keeping heat down is air movement. You could probably put a phal outside in full sun if the breeze was strong enough. If you don't already have one you might consider getting a small fan to blow over your orchids - this should make them stronger, healthier, and happier.

Best,
Jem

Thanks to all of you for the advice - it will stay in the eastern window then. The only way it could sit in the southern window would be on the back of an aquarium, beside the onc., about 4 inches away from the window, and it does get incredibly warm there from the sun (and from the bottom too, where the aquarium lights produce heat). I have no window sills, just the aquarium, so there's no way to put it back farther from the window, or to put anything in front of it either. It would definately get too hot there from what you're all saying - I grow my plants that need the highest light levels there (trees, cacti, and the onc.).

I took a closer look today at lunch, and it really is just absolutely soaking wet down in the plastic pot, and jammed in there so tightly with moss I couldn't even coax it out of there. It looks like some of the roots will need trimming after all, since some are just really mushy & falling apart. I may have to cut the pot off just to get it out. Do Phals like holes in the sides of thier pots, or do they prefer solid walls? I have my Onc. in a glazed "orchid pot" with many holes in the sides, and it seems to be happy with that, but I've been reading that Phals like more moisture at the roots.

My house is kept at an even 70-72 (75-78 in summer) degrees in winter, so that's what it is right now, and under both windows are the heat registers, so that provides some air movement. In summer, the A/C comes out of those same registers, providing more air movement around the plants. I do open the narrow side windows (on either side of both the south & east large windows) on nice spring/fall days, so there will be some natural airflow from those occasionally too. I'm not fond of fans - they make me cold, and make the water evaporate from my aquariums faster. But none of the other plants have ever complained about the air movement, or lack thereof...

Thanks again...I'll get to work repotting tonight and see how it goes from there. I appreciate the help. :-)

Jamie,
I have only southern window exposure and 3 phals. If the southern light is filtered through a screen or curtain, the orchids should be ok. You can also put the orchid in a part of the window that gets some shade, like the side of the window or something. As others have said, check how warm the leaves get. that's a good indication of too much sun.

Ok..I'm the iconoclast. When I lived in Connecticut, I had my phals in the southern window in the winter time. Why? There was no way that the eastern light in my northern climes with a tree in the back yard, albeit leafless, would get enough light during the winter. In the southern window, they were about a foot away.

In the wintertime here in Ohio, My phals in are the southern window WITH NO TREES or obstructions of any sort and they are happy. In the summer, they would fry.

You're talking about Montana, where the sun in the winter is even farther away. For winter, yeah, they'd be fine. I'm not even sure that sitting it on the aquarium during the winter would be too bad, unless you keep your house hot. One way of finding out would be to put a pot of orchid medium on the fish tank, and stick a soil thermometer in to see what was what. The humidity would probably do the orchid well.

I know that basing conditions at my folks in Cut Bank, putting an orchid in the southern light in winter wouldn't be a problem...in the summer, I'd move it to the eastern window.

The thing is, light is different depending on where you are and what kind of obstructions you have. I could NEVER bloom a catt in Connecticut, even when I put them out on my eastern facing deck. Here, I put my catts and my ascocendrums in the southern light and wow! I can bloom the pants off them. I really have to be careful with the phals, because the southern light in the summer here would toast them....

If Richard put his in the southern light, he'd have toasted plants for sure, so his advice for people with his same conditions would be right on....

The best bet for you would be to use a camera (slr that is) or a light meter and figure out what light you get for how long.....I'd bet you'd be surprised.

Well, I actually have an orchid on the aquarium already...it's an oncidium, and I was told it needed very bright light & high humidity, so that's where I stuck it. It's in bark, not sphag. though. It's very happy there, and blooms twice per year. I'm actually going to have to repot it this summer, as it's literally crawling out of it's pot. The leaves get a bit bleached by the sun (even in winter), but it seems happy and blooms, so I leave it there.

I've fried many plants in that window - lipstick vines, african violets, even a sedum, believe it or not. So it really is very hot and sunny there, most plants aside from my trees and the onc. can't handle it (I do have other plants growing under the trees, but they're about 6 inches under the actual window so the light is diffused). And that was before the neighbors cut down thier huge lilac hedge last fall. That's why I wanted clarification, because I didn't want to burn the phal, and had read they like light levels similar to an african violet. My violets do best in the eastern windows, hence my assumptions from there, and my confusion on southern windows here.

Cut Bank is much farther north than we are here in Billings, I think. We're south-central Montana, if that helps any.

In any case, I've decided to leave the poor phal alone in the Eastern window to dry out and settle in. The leaves are firming up, and there might be a bud on the end of the bloomstalk, so I'm leaving it be for now, and will re-evaluate in a week or so. :-)

Sure does, I know Billings. I saw Montana, and it really varies. ...go with the African violet point, and if you've fried the leaves on oncs, then by no means leave it in the southern window.

My point was this...it really depends on the obstructions, whether trees, buildings, hills, etc. because one person's east window might not give out enough light...in addition, phals can take more light than many are given credit for, but if you get sunburn on oncs, then by no means is this a good thing for phals.

Happy growing!

Hi,
I grow all my phals in an east or west window and have been doing so for over 12 years. I bought one a year ago packed really tight in moss and figured after it was done blooming I'd put it in loosely packed moss. Well, it's been blooming for the entire year and looks great. Most of my phals are in moss but if they come in a plastic pot, my husband cuts slits in the sides all around for air movement. They all do great and I've got over 15 blooming right now. You just need to give the one you bought more air to the roots.
Good luck.

Jamie -

Thanks for dropping by. Thanks, too, for reading through some of the background info before posting.

You might consider repotting the Phal right away in fresh moss and perhaps a slightly larger pot. Reason - if it had been over-watered at the store long enough to show damage and still hasn't dried out, you're talking long-term, serious wet.

Yes, Phals like pots w/ slits in the sides. Also, more or larger holes in the bottom than pots for houseplants. As Chilover said, you can make your own slits (and holes). All of this is to get air to the moss and roots.

Congratulations on your Onc blooming twice a year. It's obviously happy.

All the best, and let us know how it goes.

Whitecat8