Temperature Question

[freezedried74]

It says in the guide for Dens 60-65 degrees at night and 85-90 degrees during the day. Are these temps essential? What do you do in a home environment? Thanks.

[flhiker]

Hi freezedried74 and welcome to the OB. I live in south Florida and the nights are in the upper 70's and lower 80's and my Dens are doing great and the day's are in the mid 90's too! So I would say they are not essential.

[CodiMN]

Think of them more as "guidelines"...when they say "stick to the code" you stick with what works for your particular plants that makes them the happiest. Much of it is trial and error. *Hope you got the Pirates of the Carribbean reference there!*

[Jeremy]

I would say, assuming that its a Dendrobium phalaenopsis, that temperatures does not matter as long as they are not too cold like less then 50F-55F.

[Lagoon]

Den/phals don't take to tempts below 60's very well.
Although the deciduous can go lower

[justatypn]

It is all trial and error ... this is how we learn to have our babies acclimate to our enviroment. I as well live in Fl...evenings are in the high 70's to 80's and day's up to 90ish on a cold front day A blooming cycle might have been lazied but they have come around to my enviroment.

What we read is merely a "general guideline", watering and humidity is more important than temperature. One thing to remember if your comfortable so are your orchids.

[flhiker]

One thing to remember if your comfortable so are your orchids. [/quote]
Wow! That makes totals sense, will have to remember that one Thanks

[Ray]

As a general comment, temperature differences can be valuable for the plants, as well.

Unlike mammals, whose life processes are self-moderated, plants rely on the giant solar engine in the sky. At warmer temperatures, the chemical processes function more rapidly in general, but not all of them respond equally, and it varies from plant to plant. A nighttime cooldown slows some and allows others to proceed.

If you think about the natural locale of the species involved, you can see which plants prefer bigger temperature shifts than others. Most phals, for example, come from close to equatorial regions where that is not common, so they don't need it as much as would something from farther from the equator.

[PCgeekchick]

Of my 3 dens, 2 bloom yearly and they've lived indoors fully since we moved from FL to MO. They took a year to adjust, but are now "comfortable" with the new environment and still bloom even though they are in an AC/Heat environment. For note, I keep AC at 78-80 during the summer; heat at 68-72 for winter; spring & fall house is open as much as possible to the breezes.

Also of note, ALL my orchids got frozen in our drive up to MO when we moved. They were in the back of an Avalanche when we stayed overnight in TN, everyone froze!! Some leaves went brown and i thought it was the end... but here they are. And strangely, they seem to love MO better than FL. weird.

My other den (the non-bloomer) was a rescue. He's become my experiment plant for propagating dens. I just cut several of his canes and have them sitting in damp sphag to see if i can sprout some babies.

[freezedried74]

Thank you for the responses it has helped greatly.

Here's another question. Should I leave canes with no leaves on them alone or should I remove. The canes look fine, just no leaves.

Thanks
Brian