To Burn, Or Not To Burn...

[silken]

I grow my orchids in a greenhouse that is attached to our house. It has a triple glazed clear poly carbonate roof and fairly large western windows. It also has 3 south facing windows on the short wall but the neighboring house shades the sun pretty much there. In winter there is snow on the roof more often than not and I supplement with T5 lights. In spring thru fall we cover the entire roof with a shade cloth. I forget what % of protection but it is a green mesh one and is likely around 50%. This year for various reasons (long story) we have not put the shade cloth on yet and I am cringing for my orchids. I have hung a few outside but 90% of them are in the greenhouse. Many of the Cattleyas and Dens are exposed to the worse sun and glare you can imagine. We have always said we're sure that the roof magnifies the sun more than just being outside. You almost need sunglasses to be out there. I have increased the humidity and am looking into getting a swamp cooler. In the meantime I have also installed a mist line from the roof that goes on for a few mins 4 times a day. It doesn't wet the plants much, just helps cool. Nothing is showing any sign of burning so far so I doubt that they will now. For the Milts and Masdies, they are out there too but I have a thin fabric over their stand and a fogger running as of recently. I also have a mist wand that creates a fine cloud of mist several times a day in their direction. So far so good and it gets to 90 degrees in there. They do get a cool quite humid break every night thank goodness.

I'm not saying this is a good thing to do, but mentioned it to illustrate how much sun some of these orchids can take. I am curious to see if I will get more or less blooms in the following months.