They can burn leaves if the plant is too close to the bulbs. If your house is warm enough for you to live in, it should be fine for the orchids.

The Florida weather should warm up Tuesday.

Jane

I'm always cold, so it's hard for me to gauge. The inside of my house right now is 60 degrees (this morning was 50)! I will have numb fingers and toes until it's closer to 75 in here. The orchids can't possibly be ok with 50-60 degrees?

This post was edited by shear_stupidity on Sun, Mar 3, 13 at 15:02

Hi
i never bring any into the until low 40's. That's only for ones in bud or flower . Others stay out to frost . of course those mounted to trees are covered . only a heat source for the large catts and vandas. there is a bit of stress but they quickly recover. i even had sone survive a hard freeze with only a sheet often moving them is far more stressful than the coldlol gary

One of these is in flower. I guess I'll just let them shiver right along with me.
One of these, not flowering, was in a sick orchid post, so it's been in the house for a while... can't toss it out there now. LOL!

Having grown orchids up North, I find Phals will get stressed with prolonged low temps. We kept our house in NY in the low 60's during winter. With lots of windows, the house would heat up during the day into the 70's. Prolonged gloomy, cloudy days didn't help.

Orchids do not show symptoms of stress or disease quickly. I would see problems develop with Phals and the warm-growing dens. Root and crown rot, general lack of vigor. I always felt, if I could get threm through February, I was home free.

Florida is a different story. I have to learn my way growing here. The cold spells are briefer and the sun shines almost every day. I do see people growing Phals on the ground and they do run into problems. The nights are cool and the ground can be damp in the shady spots most people choose to put them. I'm always surprised to see Phals spiking under those conditions. But I also see many with crown and root rot.

The cold temps are short and I think most orchids will be okay. I do think prolonged cool nights are more dangerous. Temps in the 40's and 50's aren't good for the warm growers if it lasts too long. I'd rather bring them inside.

Jane