Phalaenopsis outdoor condition
 

Hello Guys,

First of all, i wanna ask the right average temperature when to bring my phalaenopsis outside. We have 20°C here in Italy so i bring them outside and put them back then inside when the temperature goes down in the late afternoon.

The second is,
im very afraid exposing them outside will get some parasite or insect that can damage them.

I wanna ask to u which has already experience,
is that possible to them to get those stuff?
What should i do to evoid them?
Thoughts?

Have a nice day :)

For the most part, phalaenopsis are "hot" growers that would rarely experience temperatures below 23-24C on the coolest of nights.

Though for the most part, Phals, especially hybrids, readily adapt to temperatures around 5C lower than that at night. Do they get optimal growth? Maybe/probably not. But many people who have Phals are not going to hit 23-24C at night, especially in the winter, and they can still grow Phal quite well. It all depends if you are after optimal growth or "good enough'' growth.


Personally I would not go through the hassle of moving Phals in and out. If there is ample space for them inside, they can stay inside.

But at that temperature, the roots may suffer if they are wet...

I had my phals out one year, and they got very dehydrated because although we are hot enough out here, we are also arid. I no longer put phals (or certain paphs) outside. In a greenhouse it might be okay. On the other hand, I would stick a cattleya out in a minute.

As for pests. Deer, rabbits, squirrels, rats, and mice love to eat them. Anything vegetarian that likes to eat will eat an orchid. Many bugs, like aphids, will dine on them readily. Slugs are the worse, in my opinion, because you totally have to unpot to find them. They live in those roots, slowly sucking the life out of them. Other critters just like them as quick nests, but might break branches or spikes. Geckkos, snakes, even cats who decide to get on your table and roll around in an orchid (I have had cats nibble on leaves too).

Not in my experience. My lowest night temperature is around 17C in the winter (I'm not going to pay extra for heating just for the orchids). I have a number of different species and have not had any rot issues. Quite the contrary, my lueddemanniana and 2 others have the most robust and healthy root systems I have ever seen. I wouldn't dare push the temperature any further down though. In the winter I do let them go dry for longer between waterings, which may help a lot.

In general, cold + wet = root damage, but to some extent, humidity can compensate.

If the RH is relatively high, the evaporation rate is low, so the degree of evaporative cooling is limited.

Obviously, letting them be drier overall does much the same.

20C / 68 F is OK for day temperatures for Phals. I recall Italy has fairly good humidity. I don't think Italy is too hot for Phals in summer outside. Your biggest concern would be night temperatures. What are night temperatures now?

Watching for outdoor pests is always a concern.

You might consider editing your profile flag. It is set to Philippines. If you didn't say Italy we might have given you advice for the wrong place.