I have never put my phals outdoors but my mother who lives in New York has and they burned. I don't know where in the yard she put them but I would be very careful about putting phals outdoors especially if you have become attached to them.

I put mine outside (and have previous years) several weeks ago. I was careful to put them in a well shaded area and they are fine. Last year, I was not as careful and a few did burn, although they’ve recovered fine. They like being outside :)

Thank you both for the info. I do have a very shaded spot I can put the phals where they will never be in direct light and I will be keeping a close eye on them. I am going to put my Onc in a slightly brighter location. Hopefully I won't kill them. I usually subscribe to a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" philosophy but would like to try making them a little happier. The phals look great for being indoors. Leaves are the right color and lots of new roots and leaves. This is under an "only ok" florescent light. I have a friend of mine that has 2 phals she keeps at her office. One is kept right up next to a north facing window and the other is kept on her desk probably 5 feet away from the north facing window. Obviously the big florescent office light are on Monday-Friday from 9 to 5 but they receive no artificial light after 5 during the week or on the weekends. The one closest to the window is doing very very well and new root/leaf growth and the one on the desk "appears" to be doing well. Good roots and blooms,it even has a keiki but I am not sure if the keiki is a stress response to a slowly dying orchid or just a happy orchid making babies. But her north facing windows got me thinking about lighting for my orchids. So I am trying something new by putting about 4 of my phals in a LARGE north facing window with deep sills. (I am 5'2 and and can easily stand inside my windows without having to duck my head, they are HUGE windows, my 5 foot tall mother-in-law tongue is in one of those windows and doesn't touch the top) Then I plan on putting a few outside on the porch but in the shade to see how they fare. If the do well outside and NF windows then that gives me LOTS more room for more orchids....which is the addiction that we all give in to I think :)

Any way, thank you both very much

Watch out for squirrels, they like to dig in pots and I’ve also found that they like to chew on pseudo bulbs.

Another thing to consider is a patio area like you discribe can get very hot in summer, even in the shade.

I summer all of my plants outside. Most I hang from trees in the yard. Dappled light is the best but a phal should be okay in the shade. I think it’s the rain that is most beneficial to the plants outdoors. It flushes out build up in the pot and cleans the leaves.

I live in the South and I place all of my orchids outside once the weather warms up. I would advise placing all of your orchids in the shadiest spot you can find, including the ones that love brighter sunlight. Keep them there for a week or two, giving them time to adjust to an outdoor environment. For any orchids that like a little more light, you can gradually move them to an area with a little more light. Don't just put them in a bright spot right away.

Down here where I live, the summer temps can easily climb up into the triple digits. This doesn't phase my phals one bit. I just have to keep them well watered. In fact, they love it so much that they thrive on my neglect and grow like weeds. The only care they get from me is a blast from the garden hose. When they're kept indoors, I refrain from getting their leaves wet. But when they're growing outdoors, I spray them down without even the slightest concern about keeping them dry. Just as long as their pots have good drainage, which lets their roots still breath in the fresh air they need.

Hi Jen!

Looks like we’re in the exact same area—Pennsylvania 7a :). All of my orchids went outside last summer and will again this year after Mother’s Day. I had a 3 tier standing shelf with lycastes, cattleyas and related on top in full sun, then in the front on the second shelf I had my oncidiums and dendrobiums with lower light species like Phals behind them. I adjusted as necessary to account for light needs, and they only got watered when it rained or we had a dry spell lasting longer than a week. Everything bloomed very nicely for me this year :)

Oh my goodness Alyssa, I am probably VERY familiar with your area because I am also technically a 7a/7b..... there is this nice little knot of 7b right in the center of where I am lol! And thank you SO much! Whereas I very greatly appreciate all the comments from everyone else it is so nice to hear it from someone that could literally be in my back yard ( so to speak) I was actually playing with the idea of doing shelving. I don't have any very high light orchids as I simply can not replicate what they need indoors but I do very often grow what, in this area, are considered annuals that are very high light like my carnations. I always grow them in containers because honestly they don't fare well here over the winter. If I did shelving I could put carnations on the top shelf and then mimic your set up by putting the Onc up front and the phals behind on lower shelves. I smell a "honey-do-Mother's Day" project coming on :)

Photo, I understand that completely. I grew up in the south, Alabama to be exact and then lived in northern Florida for about 5 years. When we moved to PA it was SUCH a challenge for me to grow things because everything that I was use to had to change. Things that are perennial in the south are usually grown as annuals here. (Like Mandevilla and Carnations) The last 10 years have been a real learning curve for me and the first 2 or 3 saw more plants die than live. I'm happy to say that, for the most part, I have finally figured out growing things in the north until I try my hand at something new ....like orchids or monkey cups or bonsai trees. (I now have about 50 "houseplants" that make the trek outside every summer) Then I am off to the races doing research projects on how to care for them in my specific area. Long story short, when you live in the north and you love love love to grow things be prepared to become a researcher cause the really awesome cool plants just don't typically come from this area.

Jen,

West Central Ohio here. Seems you could use the up to 12PM area for the orchids, and as you stated put the phals/low light orchids behind the higher light ones. As far as acclimating, personally I use several 4-tier racks and put heavy window screening over the front of the racks for the first few weeks to provide the acclimation. Window screening works great for the initial shading. As you get more experience (and orchids) you'll figure out which ones may want more light beyond morning light. I'm a fan of give them as much light as they can take, they seem to thrive and get through winters much better with max light during their outside period.

I move a lot of my orchids out into an area that gets rain when it is expected, as my normal outside grow area is under the eaves of my house which block most of the rain. They do enjoy the natural rain water.

As far as the Onc drying out, Oncs are one of the few orchids I pot in straight spagh moss. In general, I find that the finer/thin the root then finer/more water retentive media is beneficial. Also with 75+ orchids, that way they still follow my normal weekly watering routine and I don't have to treat them 'special' as far as watering. It would be a great time to get a junior bag of good spagh from RePotMe and try it on the Onc, the summering outside will help with the media transition.

Finally, plan on doing a repeated bug treatment prior to bringing them back in this fall. You don't want or need any hitchhikers during winter!

Good luck,

Bob

Thank you for the advice Bob. I got my Onc maybe a month ago and of course lost the bloom spike within the first 2 weeks (no telling how old that spike was before I bought it). The very first thing I noticed was that it came from the grower in this charcoal chunky mix that doesn't seem to retain hardly any moisture at all. Hence the bulbs wrinkling and the new leaves accordioning. As I have had great success with rePotme's phal mix I looked to see what their Onc mixes looked like to see if I could get a better idea of what I should be transplanting mine into. They have 2 Onc mixes, one is coconut husk chips, perlite and stalite and the other is pine bark, turface and lava rock. So that gave me a starting ground but I usually play a little conservatively with new plants so when I re-potted it I mixed equal parts of the stuff it was already in with coconut husk chips and maybe 15 strands of long fiber Spagh. (the good stuff, New Zealand long fiber, nice and clean) The roots on that poor plant were horrible! It was in a black square plastic pot with several drainage holes at the bottom but none on the sides and the roots were literally wrapped around and around and around the inside of the pot and most of them were dead.Not rotted and mushy, just dead. The velamin was all dry and just pulled away from the obviously dead roots (strings galore) So I cut away the dead roots, put it in a smaller orchid growers pot, (clear with slits in the side/holes in the bottom) with the above mentioned mix. However if, from a fellow northern grower, I get advice of straight sphag then I am inclined to listen.

Alyssa, what do you grow your Onc's in?

Also, in regards to treating them before the come back in this fall, I have read Bayer 3 in 1 Rose as a systemic/preventative is good and also Malathion treat once a week for 3 weeks prior to bringing in. I am torn about using a preventative. I probably shouldn't be as I use Bonide for all of my other house plants with great success.

You read right. I use the Bayer's 3 in 1 in the fall 3x over a 3 week period to kill any 'hatchers' over that period. I treat almost all of my orchids with the Bayer's treatment in fall. I only use Malathion if I see bugs present.

Bob