winter care in North florida?

[John H. Bell]

I have three walmart orchids, phaelenopsis(sic) I believe--they love the shade in my car port.For winter I'm looking at a large window in my south facing garage, or a large North facing screened porch which receives almost full light....I could install a grow-light for them there if necessary.
advice?
Thanks, John

[RosieC]

Hi John and welcome to Orchid Board

If they are Phals then they don't want direct light, but they can cope with it better in the morning than in the afternoon, so usually a east/north window is better than a south/west window.

Sometimes they can be OK in a south window in the winter, but that's here in the UK and in Florida it might still be too bright even in the winter, I'm not sure on that.

But it's probably best to confirm it's a Phal first off. If you post a pic we should be able to recognise the type of orchid enough to give culture tips. The different types (genus) of orchids can make huge differences to the care they need.

[John H. Bell]

Thank you Rosie. I'll se if my digital camera will cooperate to confrom an ID on my carport crop.

I'm going to make a portable hanging screen for the orchids and see how they like my front porch---it occasionally drops into the 30's and 20's (F) here so I can scoot them indoors if necessary---As well, I'd like to see if they thrive during summer on that porch since who wants to go out to a a garage to see orchids anyway. Thanks again,John