Think of orchids as unique “Goldilocks”, particularly when it comes to temperatures and light levels.
IDEALLY, they do best within specific ranges of each. Yes, they may tolerate something a small degree outside of them, but they will not grow or bloom as well.
A deep understory plant that normally grows hot and with no direct sunlight, for example, will not do as well if grown cool, but with more light.
It’s all about chemical reactions occurring within the plant, and those chemical reactions are affected by temperature, light intensity, light & dark duration, to name but a few factors. Even the water supply affects it.
If there is plenty of water at the roots, hormone signals tell the stomata to open, allowing gas exchange to occur more freely, allowing carbon fixation to occur more rapidly. If the root system is dry, that doesn’t happen, as the plant goes into “conservation mode” to save water.
As Roberta said - each plant is unique, the needs are very specific (hence my “Goldilocks” comment), and the complexity of plant processes are too great to make any generalizations.
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Hybrid Mode
