Do your phals get exposed to cooler nights going into fall?

tj

Hi Tj, it's been pretty warm so far. It will cool off further. Usually gets down to 13 and 14 degrees inside the house at night as we get further into autumn and winter. We don't have central heating. I had thought that was sufficient in terms of cool night time temps. Last year had 2 out of 7 phals flower. Which didn't seem quite right to me. Some of them were even side by side. Thought it was more likely a light issue.....

What do you think?

Thanks Lillian

Hard to say. Most, but not all Phalaenopsis initiate a new flowering spike by a sensing a temperature drop in Autumn. A guy with a huge Phalaenopsis house does not turn on the heating till night temps get to about 13C. and he has many blooms for the spring Orchid Shows.

No idea about tinted windows, all you can do is be guided by leaf colour, Not a really deep green nor a washed out lemon green appearance.

Outside, unprotected at latitude 33 or 34 South, leaves will burn.

After reading orchid forum stuff ages and ages ago I put a few Cattleyas "outside" in full sun in mid winter. The leaves burnt! Where you are in the world matters. No idea what a difference the little puddle from here to Auckland makes to orchid culture.

Thanks Arthur! I've been experimenting with getting the plants a bit more light. It's starting to cool off here so hoping for some spikes. It's very frustrating. I have some very healthy looking plants that have not flowered for 5 years!!

Auckland is pretty similar to Sydney for sun intensity. High uv ratings even on cloudy day and through winter. Wondered about outside in the shade.

It's a little more yellow than shows up in the picture so think I have overdone this a tad. Started to have red edges. But it not really burnt.... Some patches slightly yellow.

Think this is about right?

Will keep trying...

Many thanks

Lillian

Lillian, your Phals look good. Nice leaf color and healthy. I would put them outdoors in the shade to get the cool down. I bet they start spiking.

I grow a bunch of Phals for people who come down to Florida in the winter. Some are businesses who can't grow them inside their office. I find that some will spike quickly with the fall cool down and others which really have to stay outside longer and get lower temps before spiking. I have left them outside when temps were in the low 40'sF. I never lost any.

If they were my plants, I'd move them out to a shady spot, leave them outside until you begin to see spikes. Then bring them in.

Jane

I forgot to give you my 'take' on tinted windows. The house we bought has tinted windows. I don't trust them and have used supplemental lights to give them more of the correct spectrum. Not sure what the tinting blocks, but have actually bloomed many phals inside with my octopus lamps when the weather got below 40F.

Jane

Thanks for the information. Wow, I didn't realise or think that they could take temperatures down to that.... My phals have been exposed to 12 and 13 but not down 5 to 10.

I might have to try to get them to spike early in the autumn then... Don't want to risk any frosts. Still unseasonably warm weather at the moment!

I have thought that they look healthy. So glad to hear you agree Jane. Sadly year after year I have been disappointed. Hopefully some of the tips I've picked up from this forum will lead to some spikes soon.

Didn't think our climate here was suitable for phals outside but might experiment with a few. Also worried about the prolific bugs.... But suppose you just spray the orchids when you bring them in? I've just gotten rid of a scale and mealy bug infestation....

Unfortunately not much I can do about the tinted windows. I'm not sure if I'm quite ready to start tinkering with lights. I presume you have proper growing light bulbs. That is a gorgeous orange phal!!! I'm after a proper orange and also a yellow one. No luck so far...

Many thanks everyone. Have a few things to try out and work on. Will let you know if I have any luck.

Lillian

Hi everyone,

I've popped 3 phals outside! The ones I'm thoroughly sick of. I read somewhere on a previous post that that struck a cord "it's time to do or die". The orchids in question 8 years, 5 years and 4 years of no flowers. It's in the shade and quite well protected from the wind. My concern is high humidity and heavy condensation at night time. I'm worried that this may cause fungal infections or rot. Any thoughts or suggestions on how to deal with this is. I've never had them outside before so keen to get any advice on how to look after them

Thanks

Lillian

Lilian,

I think the two phals look very healthy and should bloom if given the right conditions.

As far as humidity/condensation, if there is any breeze they should be fine. In fact, they should enjoy the humidity as long as it doesn't get too cold (<50F/10C). If you are concerned, try to get them under a house eave or tree or something to protect them from the moisture.

Just to be clear, personally I think it is a 15 degree temp change from day to night over a couple of weeks that initiates the spikes, not just the temperatures dropping to 50F/10C. It just happens that this day/night temps drop occurs naturally in the autumn. I use the 'outside until less than @50F/10C' technique on a lot of my phals and get spikes/flowers regularly in the winter. For the ones that stay indoors year round, in the autumn I put them by an open window overnight to get the autumn day/night temp drops to initiate spikes.

IMO purple/red tint on the leaves means you are at the max light. Not a bad thing, but means you are close to sun-burning leaves with too much light.

Also, most fluorescent/CFL/LED lighting works for orchids, doesn't have to be lights designed for plants (which costs much more generally). If you want to try inside lights, just let us know as there are a few of us inside growers on this forum who may be able to offer advice.

Good luck,

Bob

Thanks for your advice Bob and Jane. Believe it or not that's not even my best looking orchid in my opinion!!

Tucked under the eaves but still gets a fair bit of condensation. It does seem to be coping well at the moment. There should be plenty of air circulation. I started measuring temp and humidity. Getting temperature drops of 12 to 15 degrees Celsius at the moment. Hopefully that will trigger some spikes. The plants still appear to be growing new roots though.

I think I had been under doing the light at times so have pushed it so to eliminate that as a reason for lack of flowering. However not sure how quickly the plant will respond to improved lighting.

I water with rain water and use a store bought orchid fertiliser. I think the plants look too healthy to be seriously lacking in nutrients but wondered if I needed to use something that also has calcium and magnesium in it?!

It's lovely to have the forum. Most people I know are bored to tears when I start talking about orchids. I have so many questions and things I wonder about! Will definitely consult this forum if I try lights.

Many thanks!

Hi everyone! My best looking plant in my opinion. It has had a touch much sun lately as I was concerned it was lack of light causing lack of blooms. It has not flowered for at least 5 years (since it was bought in bloom)

Fingers crossed the temps outside seem to be right at the moment. Will keep you all posted if I have any luck!



Lillian, the plant looks good. Don't worry about those old leaves. Leave it outside for at least a month to force it to spike. It will!

It needs the cooler night temps to spike.

Bob is right. Night temps are the most important. The difference between day temps and night temps. But it has to happen over a 4-6 week period. If your nights are predicted to get too cold, bring the plant in then put it back out in the morning. But, it needs that 15 degree temperature differential.

Put all your 'non flowering Phals' outside. You'll have a ton of flowers in a few months.

Jane

Thanks for the reply! If I start to see a spike how long before I bring it in? Bring it in straight away or should I wait for it to be an inch or 2 long?

Eagerly awaiting to see what happens in the next few weeks.

The lack of blooms makes perfect sense if a temp difference of 15 is needed. No way my plants got that!! The most would have been 10 degrees.

Many thanks to everyone!! I am hopeful that we have cracked this.

Lillian

Wonderful news!!! Thanks to everyone I seem to have finally started to get a few flower spikes. Although still in the early stages. Took 6 weeks but temps have been a bit erratic....

Now I have a couple more questions......

When do I bring them in? The nubs are very small as you can see in the picture.

Also one of the nubs seems to have stalled and doesn't seem to be growing any more. What could have caused this and how to I get it to start growing again?

Your help and advice is greatly appreciated as always.

I can't tell you all how thrilled I am to have made progress like this.

Lillian

Keep doing what you're doing. It may grow in fits and spurts, so no need to change your protocol. Watch the temps and bring them in if it gets too cold.

Congratulations.

tj

Thanks Tj! I'm watching temps like a hawk. Have a little maximum/minimum thermometer that I reset each day. I also monitor the daily weather reports. Soon I'll be a weatherman ;-) will keep going as is for now.

I think one might even be a double spiker!!!! I shouldn't get greedy after this initial great development...

Thanks all

Lillian