Best place for Orchids (N,S,E,W)

[Ridley Ann]

I am very much a beginner and currently have my orchids inside on a table in front of an east facing window. They seem to be doing fine but I’d love to move them outside because well they’re plants you’d think they’d like to be outside better. I also live in Florida so it’s warm/hot and humid pretty much year round!

My question is that the only place at the moment that I can move them is to the opposite side of the house (facing west) where they would now be getting afternoon sun instead of morning. Will this upset the plants too much? I assume that they’ll need time to adjust but it’s a big change. Inside to outside, east side of the house to west side.

[Ray]

That's going to depend upon the types of orchids you're growing. Some like full sun, others like deep shade, and others prefer somewhere on the entire spectrum in-between.

[MrHappyRotter]

First thing to do is to try and get a general ID of your plants even if they don't have tags, so you know what conditions they like.

If the plants are getting an appropriate amount of light and generally good growing conditions, they do not care which direction their light is coming from. Western exposure generally means the brightest light corresponds to the hottest part of the day, and that's where the concern lies.

When moving indoor plants outside, you'll need to acclimate them to higher lighting because intense direct lighting can easily cause sunburn when they're used to indoor light levels. It's best to place them in deep shade for a bit or otherwise obstruct the lighting for a at least a few days, then gradually increase the amount of light they get over the course of a week or few until you get them into optimal lighting conditions, which depends on what type of orchid you've got. You may want to go extra slow if the temperatures are particularly hot.