I moved all of mine inside last Friday. In Northeast Ohio, we had temps fall into the 30s and rain for 3 days. If it was not for the rain I would have left mine outside longer. Being cold and wet is a recipe for complete disaster.

Now that everything is inside, I am probably going to just leave them inside for the winter. The weather has improved but it is too much effort to put most of them back outside.

Still I am considering moving some of my deciduous dendrobiums back outside under the cover of the front porch. I would like to keep them outside as long as possible to get a good chill, but I am not sure it will make a difference. Like Bob, I may have another 2-3 weeks before the temps are way too cold. Thoughts?

A tip of the hat to both of you and all orchid growers in the zone of freezing. Still winter is the most work for me too. But not like you. Typically in December the temps will hit 40 something. My first work of winter is the most.

I have a small area that on first chill I'll drop several isinglass curtains down. A pain in the neck. Then I'll cram as many orchids in this space as possible. I have an electric heater and a ceiling fan that goes on slow forever. All the blooming plants come in the house without much objection from other humans. And I tell the chids that there is an incentive to bloom to get in the warm house.

But low temps are for a couple of days to a week. Frequently I'm adjusting the isinglass as the days warm or on some days I could cook the plants. If it appears that all clear weather is ahead I'll bring out some plants. Especially the bloomers.

When they come in the house it is a little dry for them so I need to get them back out soon.

It is not overwhelming but it makes me pay attention to the weather. By the end of March the low temps risk is low. I must control myself at that time to not bring them all out too soon. Then I'm left with the big question, Will they tolerate this next borderline cold? Or do I bring them back in? I know I'm not the only one...

I have been taking a few in at a time over the last few weeks. Only thing left outside are cymbidiums, coelegyne, few dendrobiums and a few oncidium types. The temp can change quickly this time of year so I want to be able to move everything in an hour if needed.

Brought back memories. In and out. Now I sort of miss it. My house was on a hill. By September, most of my plants were carried up to a deck off the second floor. I took advantage of every sunny day even if it meant bringing them in at night. I had a sliding door on the deck and would pile them in our dining room, then back out in the morning.

The Phals stayed in. They were spiking and I learned that if they started budding, the buds would dry up if brought in too late. So they came in first. Same problem with the hard cane dens. They came in.

The Masdes, nobiles, and Catts stayed out unless we got a lot of rain. Then they came in.

But, during that time (usually a month), my indoor grow areas were set up, all plants were debugged. A lot of work, but I sort of miss it. I share Bobs experience about feeling so good after they were all in for the winter. It made my house feel alive with all the buds and spikes. The grow rooms felt alive. I do miss it.

Jane

Jane,

My patio has sliding doors, I dance the vanda types indoors any evening it goes below 50, they sit on the dining room table (wife has a little issue with this, but she's pretty supportive of my obsession and we don't eat at that table very often :) ), and bring them back out the next day at lunch. Thankfully with only 8 or 9 mini-vandas it only takes a couple of minutes. Most of the mini-vandas have some type of neo influence, so I think they stand the cold better than straight vandas.

I did the bulbos this way for a week or two and finally last week, brought them in for good as I'm pretty sure they are all intermediate to warm growers.

I also had the same experience with the phals, if you wait too long to bring them in after budding, they seem to drop/blast more often than I'd like.

IMO, for us northern indoor growers hybrid phals are kind of neat, some have 1'-2' spikes with advanced buds already, some are just setting buds, some are just starting spikes, some are doing nothing at all and a few somewhere in between. YEAH, PHAL FLOWERS IN FALL, WINTER AND SPRING!!! Most of my species and violacea hybrids are losing their flowers now, but the hybrids are getting ready to pick things up :-), so if you mix in a few species phals you get a year round show! Of course, I have @ 30-40+ phals so I should have phal flowers year round.

Bob

You are right, Bob. Phals can take you through the year if you have the right ones.

Funny, I was sooooo sick of Phals. Sold them all when we moved. I realize now how many family photos have one of my Phals blooming in the background. They flower forever. After a while, they become artificial plants, you stick on a piano or bathroom and forget about them. But they keep their flowers and bring color and design to so many spaces.

Since we moved, I've wound up with Phals from businesses who have these dying Phals and don't know what to do with them. I bring them back and get them going again and bring them back in bloom.

So many other orchids bloom in winter, but none (except a few Oncidiums/Ondonts) last as long as the Phals.

Very tricky to grow in Florida. I never had a problem in NY and am dreading the spikes now.

Good luck to timing it all right. Get the Phals and hard-canes inside before they bud. Then you'll have a beautiful display in the depth of winter.

Jane

Jane,

I'm somewhat fortunate with the inside/outside thing. I'm able to keep a window open in my grow room (the room has a door that can close and basically seal it from the rest of the house) for a month on either side of the in/out time (fall and late spring) so that the room can have some similarity to what is going on outside. Seems to help in the transitions from inside to out.

I been keeping the hybrid phals out until they form buds, so far so good. I do have 3 or 4 hybrids that were blooming outside, they and the rest of the warm growers will come in this evening as we are expecting temps into the mid-upper 30's the next two nights.

The dends, 'chillums, paphs and phrags and such will have to make it under the eaves for the next two nights, although I don't think we are expecting any frost it does stay a tad warmer under the eaves and next to the house which helps.

Expecting mid 50s to mid 70s next week, so some will work their way back out... Better than doing yard work I guess :-)

Bob

My Dens and 2 small vandas are still out. within the next week or so it'll be time for me.

Bob, it is better than doing yard work which seems to go on year round in Florida.

Its funny how living most of your life adjusting to the climates becomes so ingrained. I do miss it and did love having my plants indoors where I could keep a better eye on them.

I remember my Psychopsis would always flower around Halloween and I would put a bunch in a basket near the front door.

Moving them in and out is a pain but you want to take advantage of as many warm days as possible and have somewhere indoors to put them at night. I always wished for an Indian Summer (is that politically correct?). Extend the outdoors as long as possible.

Jane

Jane, is "yard work" the same as gardening? I am in the midst of removing the spent spring annuals from the casual cottage garden.
Of course, winter is a joke here and my only major chore as spring/autumn come on is moving plants at the Northern ends of two houses that get full shade there in winter.
I'll just look up the lowest max temperature in the winter
just past zzzzz 55.76F Brrrrr Lol. Lowest min 32F

I'll say it again. Real Orchid growers live in the frozen north.

This post was edited by arthurm on Sat, Oct 11, 14 at 4:18