They survived a week vacation (mostly)!!

[cirillonb]

I just returned from the first week away from my collection. I had searched this and another forum for suggestions and amalgamated my decision.
First, since this was a road trip to a relative and none of my local relatives would be home, I brought the 3 mounted orchids with me in a dish pan to water daily. They got very little light however (Tolumnia Genting Volcano, B.grandiflora, and Blc Chia Lin "New City") These did OK.
The second group were those that spend their days on an east windowsill with no way to dampen the light. These I put in a tub with about 2 inches of water. The plants were on inverted plates. A fan and light were on a timer. Unfortunately when I got home the light was not working.
These did very well.They were:
Oncidium 'Twinkle' with flower spikes showing. These flowers progressed nicely.
Lc. Long River Compton..good health
Blc Halaehi 'Sunbow' good health
Bc Little Mermaid
Vanda Packong Blue in a pot with EpiWeb and PrimeAgra.
surprisingly well with good root color.
The rest spent their time on their table. I will report on these after I have made a detailed examination of them.
Nick

[Ray]

You need not have bothered with the exceptional effort you did.

In such circumstances, water the plants thoroughly just before you leave, and move them back from direct sun so the desiccating effect of it is reduced, and they would have been fine.

That is especially true of any plant with pseudobulbs (all but 2 of those you listed), as they are storage devices, and by moving them temporarily to reduced-light conditions, their metabolic rates would be decreased, which prolongs the period they can be "abandoned".

[cirillonb]

Ray,
Thanks for the comment and I read that before (probably from you.) My problem that there is no place "back" from the one window sill whose orchids I removed to the bathroom.Probably was too much bother but was the first time.
Nick
Nick

[Ray]

Actually, for a week, in the middle of the living room, away from all light, is not a huge stress.

[Jorch]

I second that.. for Oncidiums and Catts growing in proper growing mix, being neglected for a week is nothing. The owner is usually more stressed about being away from their plants for a week than the plants themselves...