Temperature ranges for Scuticarias?

[JenRiot321]

Hey all!

I’ve been trying to find some information on the care of scuticarias, more specifically Scuticaria salesiana and it’s specific temperature requirements.

I know it’s a cool/intermediate grower, but I’m wondering just how cool? I’ll be keeping it in my greenhouse during most of the year, but it gets fairly hot in there in the summer so at some point I’ll need to move it out and into my plant room, which stays much cooler in the summer.

Any advice on this would be much appreciated. I’m just wondering where that high temp limitation is. High 70s/low 80s? 90? I’m also curious if this is one that requires super good water (distilled/RO)? All of my outdoor plants do well on city water but I know some cooler growing species can be fussy about their water quality.

Thanks for any help or tips offered!

Cheers!

[Roberta]

The Baker culture sheet in Orchidwiz indicates a minimum temperature in habitat of 46 deg F (8 deg C) and indicates elevations in Ecuador as high as 1300 min in one location but 600 m in another. Based on that, if it were my plant, I would consider it more intermediate than cool. Max temp given as 86 deg F (30 deg C) So it can take some heat, but probably try to keep it cooler on really hot days.

[JenRiot321]

Thank you! That’s exactly the type of information I was looking for. That’s a higher temp range i no than I thought so it alleviates some of my concerns. I’ll still play it safe when it gets too warm but it looks like it’ll be just fine with my plans. I’ve heard they can be tricky, but at least I have a decent place to start. Much appreciated!

[estación seca]

With most cool and intermediate growing plants, night temperatures are far more important than day temperatures. Most tolerate higher daytime temperatures much better if they get good and chilly at night. My problem is my growing area doesn't cool down much at night in summer. If it did I could probably grow a lot of these plants.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by JenRiot321

Thank you! That’s exactly the type of information I was looking for. That’s a higher temp range i no than I thought so it alleviates some of my concerns. I’ll still play it safe when it gets too warm but it looks like it’ll be just fine with my plans. I’ve heard they can be tricky, but at least I have a decent place to start. Much appreciated!

It looks to me like this might be one of the narrow-range orchids that doesn't like either heat or cold much. (That's why I have trouble with Miltoniopsis, which is "intermediate" on the cold side and "cool" on the hot side. Just generally picky...)

[JenRiot321]

We do get a nice cool-down during the evenings, being that I’m in Southern California, but that temperature range can be really wide over the course of 24 hours which is why I was a bit concerned about cooler growing species. Anything especially picky and with a lower, narrow temperature range is usually something I’ll steer clear of but I’m a sucker for pendant terete leaves, and I’ve never grown this genus before so hopefully I’ll be able to make it work. My early days of orchid growing left a sad wake of lonely tags without their accompanying cool-growing plants and I learned a lot back then about what I couldn’t grow! Lol!

[Roberta]

There are a LOT of cool growing orchids that should grow really well for you. (Check out the Index of plants on my website, I'm in coastal Orange County). To me, "cool" means "can tolerate temps close to frost". For those, the challenge is heat (I have given up on Den. cuthbertsonii) But I have found lots and lots that do just fine outside with whatever nature throws at them... when it is hot, I water more.

Also note the link to the Southern California Orchid Species Society blog (also in my signature line) Most of what is shown there is outdoor-grown (coastal southern California)