I summer my orchids in Chicago from about May -Oct/Nov. Since the weather changes almost daily here in the windy city, there is a lot of moving orchids in and out for those few weeks when the seasons collide. Although the process is a pain in the ### - it does help with slowly adjusting the orchids to the higher light levels of the outdoors. Get a good reference that talks about intensity of orchids and keep it relative. For example, phals and paphs will do nicely in a warm, covered patio, but not for a few more weeks until the temps really start to warm up. Catts and dendrobiums like sun- but slowly give them more and more, short of burning the leaves. Start with an open, sunny eastern exposrure and slowly change them to Southern if it is not too windy and hot. Just do it slowly, and watch the plants, outdoors does wonders for orchids....anyone from Ontario care to comment on the nuances of your weather?

I would say they'd all be better off under some shade cloth outside, you'll find even the higher light loving orchids burn very quickly in full sun.

As for what to use, some shade cloth around 40-50% to cover them is probably best. Bed sheets won't be any use, they'll block out a lot more of the light.

RP1

Outside is good even for phals, but try to anticipate the damage from wind gusts. For about the last week we've had nothing but wind, wind, wind. It's been a challenge to keep everything from blowing away. Today, it's gusts up to 45 mph. Delightful!! (he says sarcastically) I would imagine bed sheets or any cloth would be ripped to shreds in short order.

Kevin

The catt and den can take the most sun. Here in NJ mine get lots of strong morning sun, then bright shade, then afternoon sun. The oncidum gets several hours of good morning sun, then bright light the rest of the day. Since you live in Canada you may find that you don't need a shade cloth. You will have to put the plants outside and judge them under the conditions you have. The leaves should be bright green, like a lime or olive. If the leaves are darker, you can up the light. Also, feel the leaves. If they feel hot, give them more shade. As bradarmi says, increase the levels slowly, every few days. But the more light the better.

I've had catts that got sun burn, or the leaves turned red from so much sun, and then bloomed their fool heads of that winter.

In addition to the good advice above, probably even in Ontario it would be important to start all plants in shade. Acclimate them gradually to their optimum light levels.

Um, yes, you will definitely need shade cloth, even all the way up here in circumpolar Canada ;-) (For those who might be interested: did you know that temperatures today will be warmer in Sudbury than in New Jersey and Manhattan, with a higher UV index?)

Ok, now that I've gotten that out of my system... Most of those orchids should do fine outside and bradarmi's advice was right on. Start out in full shade and gradually give them more light. The Catt and Dend will take more light than the Oncidiums and a lot more than Phals.

I've enclosed a link below to an article that might interest you, from the Canadian Orchid Congress' website.

Julie

Here is a link that might be useful: COC - Getting Ready for Summer

Thanks so much for all your help - hopefully i can get some of my new orchids to throw out a healthy new spike.
I'll let you know how it goes

Thanks
Alex

Jamcm, you certainly surprised me by the weather forecast. I never imagined it could be warmer than here. I pictured the frozen north. Thanks for the info.

Well I constructed a temporary shade housing for my 'outdoor' orchids yesterday and they spent their first night outdoors - the temp didn't drop below 16. Is 16 too low? Should I have brought them in?

They seem to be doing great so far.

I understand what you mean about watching out about the winds blowing things around.

Alex

It is well and good to talk of acclimating plants to full sun but IME it can rarely be done properly except for a few plants. It is simply not practical to shuttle a large collection inside and out till properly acclimated. What I do is watch a weather site and when a week of partly cloudy weather is predicted for my area thats when they go out. Sometimes it has not been enough and there is scorch but newer growth will not have that problem. Shade cloth is really the best strategy and with 50% cloth coupled with a few partly cloudy days in the forecast there shouldn't be any damage to plants at all.

H

Hi, I live in sw ontario near london and have put my orchids outside sindce half of may. I had to shuttle some back and forth due to cold nightrs, n=but the cyms have stayed outside. I grow brassias, oncidiums,have a vuikstekara,minicyms, and a paph. Hang them in the cherry tree in the shade for a few weeks, now theyre on my east facing deck withmornng sun till 11. Only one minicym wasout to far and has some sun damage all the others are doing great, sprouting new shoots everywhere.I keep the area under the deck quite wet to keep the humidity up, as we often have northwestern winds that are very very dry in the summer. I aim to keep them out till late september, and the cyms till october unless we get frost early.
wanda

Hi there, I think most Orchid will do good outside, because Orchid they grow very well on the tree, I always keep them inside, but this year I am planning to tide them up with my willow tree where shed is 50-50 but sunlight will be there, they have to adopt the outside temperature, let see it will be my new experiment this year, when winter will come I will see probably I have to cover them, don't know yet. SO good luck with Orchid.

Mita