Sept warning for windowsill growers

[Mehera]

I found out the hard way last September that sun damage doesn't only happen when we take our plants outside in the spring! In the northern hemisphere, the angle of the sun coming into our windows has now changed drastically from the summer. Now the sun is reaching far into the room on my south windows, and the west windows are getting much less light.

Last September I was gone for a couple of days and a bunch of my plants were burned in their south window. If I had been here, maybe I would have noticed in time. Check the positions of your plants carefully to see if they need to be pulled back from the window. In the attached pictures, a few of these burns happened on plants 6 feet into the room!

All of the plants are OK, and most of them have since bloomed nicely, but the damage will be with them for a LONG time to come.

[Cjcorner]

You left your 'chids home alone for two whole days?? Gasp..... Poor burned little things.
Connie

[GiovannaD]

It happened to me as well...I forgot to put half of my collection inside in the morning (I leave them outside during the night to induce spikes) and my poor babies, p.equestris, p.equestris v.alba and p.violacea got fried by the hot midday sun. I returned from work to find the leaves smelling like burnt plastic...
My Ph.Gold Rush Brother (Ph.Golden AmboinXPh.Amabilis)
got it real bad...it has lost all its leaves, but at least the roots are very strong and I hope that it will survive.
The worst thing is I had 2 of them in a glass vase in s/h and were doing *really* well, but when I touched the glass it was hot and the water even hotter...
I tried to cool them down immediately and removed some of the burnt parts of the leaves.

[Cjcorner]

I'm going to keep a way sharper eye on my babies in the window now.
Connie

[Molly Taco]

The fall sun can be brutal, I am in the process of rigging up some kind of shade screen for the lathe house. I had some severe burns last year. Think sun screen would work.LOL
Cin

[sadie]

I had to break out the sheer window curtains the other day. I have them on cheap tension rods, so I can easily pop them in and out of the windows as the angle of the sun changes. (Although it has rained all week here, so not much of a sun problem. )

[Brutal_Dreamer]

Very good post, Lynda! This is very helpful information! Thanks!

Cheers,
BD

[Linda3406]

It happened to me as well...I forgot to put half of my collection inside in the morning (I leave them outside during the night to induce spikes) and my poor babies, p.equestris, p.equestris v.alba and p.violacea got fried by the hot midday sun. I returned from work to find the leaves smelling like burnt plastic...
My Ph.Gold Rush Brother (Ph.Golden AmboinXPh.Amabilis)
got it real bad...it has lost all its leaves, but at least the roots are very strong and I hope that it will survive.
The worst thing is I had 2 of them in a glass vase in s/h and were doing *really* well, but when I touched the glass it was hot and the water even hotter...
I tried to cool them down immediately and removed some of the burnt parts of the leaves.

Hey GiovannaD. How do you like growing Phals in S/H culture? I have a couple of Catts growing that way.

[Jmoney]

yes, this warning is right on. I think I burn more plants in the fall with the shifting of the sun's angle than in the spring, just because I forget about it.

[GiovannaD]

So very off topic, ppl! Sorry!
Linda,
Regarding your question about s/h and phals...
They are doing great, I am not using the reservoir technique, as I have noticed that it creates unnecessary moisture that concentrates near the root ball, which is bad. I water them regurarly, in the morning, every 2-3 days, depending on the color of the velamen. I then allow all the excess water to drain and let them stand.
I use superthrive and fertilizer (orchidfocus-grow) twice a month now that we're in the growing season.
So far this has helped the plants to adapt (I moved them from bark to s/h in April) and throw good fat roots. I can show you pics, if you like, but you need to enable your private messager in the forum.