Can Phalaenopsis be left out in the rain or will they get crown rot?
 

The title kinda says it all. I bring my orchids outside everyday and I always shelter them from the rain, but I’ve recently been wondering if they would benefit from some fresh rain. The medium they are in is fresh bark chips, so it drains very well. I’m just worried about my Phalaenopsis getting crown rot.

I've never had any problem arising from them being in the rain. However I do make sure they dry out between showers. It's a constant wetness, no drying breeze, that's fatal.

Just go look at some phals near you that are growing in trees. They can stay wet as long as the rain lasts, but they are usually growing in a "sideways" position so the water doesn't pool in the crown. Actually, if the air flow is good, I doubt that even an upright phal would have a problem. It's wet in Hawaii! and when we visited, there were phals all over the trees in parks there.

They will be fine outside in the rain as long as there is enough air movement. Some growers in Hawaii say it gets too much rain there and shelter their plants, however we get lots of rain here in New Orleans, and they do fine. They aren't worried about crown rot, rather root rot.

grow them in s/h and you wont have to worry about overwatering.

Awesome! I guess I’ll start taking advantage of all the rain we’ve been getting!! So it’s really just harmful if there’s no airflow?

I would think that if your outside area is open to the wind, the plants would dry off between showers. That would be ideal. If that is not the case, maybe just an occasional outing would be good. Remember these plants grow in the jungle though, they are not as delicate as we sometimes think! :)

Exactly the advice I would give. :goodjob

I've heard about semi hydro, but know absolutely nothing about it.

lots of info here but the basics are you use these clay pellets instead of bark and the pot sits in maybe 1" of water. so the roots are always wet. but they get a lot of air. the bad part is the plants will loose some roots as they adapt. they can also have the roots sit in a jar of water 24/7I have one like that and it is now blooming. not the best pic but there are phals in the s/h and in water.