Preparing orchids to come back inside
So, I know it's still early and I will probably have another month minimum before my guys have to come back inside permanently, but I wanted to start preparing now and thinking about it so that hopefully everything goes smoothly.
Outside, right now, I have:
Stanhopea nigroviolacea
Oceoclades maculata
Dendrobium loddigesii
Dendrobium Chan-Chao
Ett. Hsiang Yu Gold Coast
NoID. Unifolate Cattleya
NoID Phalaenopsis
NoID Oncidium
(forgive misspellings, I'm too lazy to confirm this morning)
All of them receive some pretty intense sun (~4-5 hours early and mid-morning). The Phal is more shaded than the others and the Stan's earliest morning exposure is heavily dappled from a bush. I know some of these are outside the plant's preferred range but, so far, everyone seems okay and they've been outside in these conditions since late May. After 11:30 or so, they are shaded by a building for the rest of the day... the Stan may get some dappled late evening sun, though.
What do others who grow outside in summer do to prepare their plants to come back inside?
Primarily, my concerns are: insect/mite pest prevention and acclimating them back to lower light levels. I haven't seen any signs of infestations of any kind, though I have seen some little red mites crawling around. I'm not sure they are a concern for the plants... I've always seen these mites around decaying wood which would make sense since many of the outdoor plants are in bark. As for non-harmful stuff, I'm not particularly bothered by creepy-crawlies so if I get some benign hitchhikers I don't really care (indeed, spiders are welcome!).
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