Quote Originally Posted by cwcervantes View Post
I've been having the same dilemma with deciding when to bring in the orchids.
It's mid-70's during the day and drops to low 50's maybe high 40's at night. i've been leaving everything out so far on a very sunny porch (that heats up well with the sun). maybe i should bring plants in? my Angraecum sesquipedale and Rhynchostylis gigantea both started spiking right with the onset of cool weather / shorter days.
Ooh...I'd probably say you should bring them in now. I think 50's are fine for most orchids, but once the temps drop into the 40's you could be pushing it with some of them. Just my opinion, though...I brought mine in before the temps went below 50 at night, just to be on the safe side. Temperature differentials are great for inducing plants to spike, but when the temp differences get too extreme I would think it would over-stress the plants, and you might be in danger of getting some cold damage, too.

It sounds like your plants are used to it by now, though, so that's good. If you took an orchid straight from a greenhouse in Florida and subjected it to those temperature extremes right out of the box, it probably wouldn't fare so well. But your orchids have had time to "harden off" against the cold, so you could probably get away with pushing them a bit harder.

Glad to hear of your spikes! That's exciting!