keeping 20 phal orchids for wedding in one week

[tedro]

Hi,

My neighbors asked me to keep 20+ tall blooming phals for their wedding june 17.

i live in naples, florida.

we put them on my lanai.

very humid, 89° in the sun — THE LANAI AND THE ORCHIDS ARE NOT IN DIRECT SUN.

nevertheless, it is quite warm and humid to hot out there.

we decided to remove the clear cellophane that they came wrapped in from the grocery store.

tomorrow i will check if any need water —difficult.

i think they should waited to the day before or day of wedding (this coming saturday) to buy them, but … not.

some suggested i keep them inside where for 12 hrs at night the AC is kept on full blast, i turn the AC at night as low as it will go, below 60f — due my cancer night sweats.
i set it to 50f so it will not stop cooling (because it won’t reach 50f in 12 hrs. even though it’s a small 700’ apartment.

it is also dark during those hours, and not much light on the inside from the lanai sliding door kept closed.

i speculated out on the lanai, with cellophane removed, was best.

???

thanks in advance

ps. recently i had a smaller blooming phal from same grocery store that i put on the lanai for the month of march and longer, it did fine.

[Louis_W]

I would reccomend that you keep them in a cool place. You arent focused on getting them to grow perfectly you mostly need the flowers to last and be fresh in a week. I think cooling them down and giving them gentle light will preserve the flowers the longest

[tedro]

i worry about shock, dead buds, from long darkness and cold.

[Roberta]

I wouldn't worry so much about the darkness, but drafty, dry cold from the A/C, I agree that sounds pretty dicey (and an invitation to bud blast). I'd go ahead and water them. wouldn't be particularly concerned about their being too damp, especially with the heat and humidity, for such a short time. Just keep them shaded.