Orchid resilience put to the test (aka, can I expect my plants to survive)

[Roberta]

So glad that it turned out as well as it did, with so few casualties. Orchids are tough! They have to be... think of life on the side of a tree. If it rains like it is "supposed to", all is well for epiphytes. But sometimes nature doesn't come through, there are droughts. So they had to evolve resilience, the ones that didn't got naturally selected out. They only LOOK delicate.

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Roberta

So glad that it turned out as well as it did, with so few casualties. Orchids are tough! They have to be... think of life on the side of a tree. If it rains like it is "supposed to", all is well for epiphytes. But sometimes nature doesn't come through, there are droughts. So they had to evolve resilience, the ones that didn't got naturally selected out. They only LOOK delicate.

While I knew that orchids were resiliant (more so than most other houseplants) it's hard to avoid being nervous when it's your own plants! Though I'm not sure I would repeat the experiment on the small orchids I took with me on vacation.

I wasn't expecting my Catts to suffer much and sure enough, they didn't skip a beat. When putting the plants back on the shelves yesterday I saw that one had put out a new growth and the other developed 2 sheaths, with buds already visible inside one of them.

[KennyS]

Good to hear that it went well. I did the same thing last week and it also went well. Also with other species. Fortunately the temperatures are now a bit better here this week.

In my terrarium it was a different story ...