Temperature drop to initiate flowering

[FinnBar]

I appreciate the feedback, thank you all!

my days are around 24C/75F and i try to stay around 18C/64F at nights.
Ray, after i read the "set times for flower spikes" -thread i started thinking that going through all the trouble might be useful for my noid Phals. (i decided not to hijack the thread and started a new one.) i initially was thinking of my 6 Aerangis -articulata, biloba, citrata, distincta, modesta, mooreana- which grow inside a tank in the same room.

Now i also moved two phals in the tank, to protect them from the cold draft and to give them a steady 12 hours of light as our daylight hours are running really low by now.

[markr]

FinnBar, I grow several Aerangis species in conditions similar to yours (indoor terariums in northern Canada, heavily insulated and heated home, opening windows in the middle of winter is not practical). I don't have all the answers but perhaps my experiences will help you out a bit.

I have not experimented with the various growing parameters in a systematic way but my experience suggests that combining a slight drop in night-time temperature combined with a dryer period will initiate Aerangis flowers. I do not know, however, which of these two factors is primarily responsible for the spikes - I do both, simply due to "conventional wisdom" and lack of experimentation.
When I first put my orchids in terrariums I had a poor blooming year, possibly because I didn't pay attention to seasonal variations in temperature and water at all (although possibly for another reason entirely).

These days I open my windows in spring and autumn, before the outside temperatures get crazy low (-40C outside temperature in January is common here, which means the windows stay shut!). As little as three weeks of cooler nights (about 15C) and dryer days is enough to initiate spikes on all my Angraecoids and Phals.

Anyway, good luck!