Sunburn?

[tim abbott]

Hi James,

I live in Cocoa Beach, Fl. It is east of Orlando on the atlantic coast. Getting very hot now, I have a big shefflera tree that provides shade, I keep mine outside; have phals, encyclia, catts & catt hybrids & oncidiums, about 20 or so total.

Tim Abbott

[james mickelso]

It's tough to burn catts and laelias but the thinner leaves of the oncids, phals, and zygos get sunburned very quickly. They will burn and be damaged before you see anything wrong. They get kinda greenish/white and somewhat shiny but once you see that it is way too late. The purple can be cyanathicine....something like that that says "hey, I'm good" and need to be sheltered a tad more, That much light can impede flowering just as much as too little light. Plant won't flower if it is too bright because unlike us it knows the flower will just get burned and won't produce seed so why waste the energy. Heck we'll stay out there for that tan until we are cooked.

[Paul Mc]

LOL... True that! Beach worshipper here!

That's good to know. I always thought on phals that was what you were shooting for. Just a hint of purple on the leaves to maximize the flower potential.

[james mickelso]

But catts can be burned. Here are examples. The first one was almost direct sunlight in the middle of the day for about an hour. Left outside while I went surfing. (slaps himself around). The other two were from a couple hours of direct sunlight through holes in the plastic on my GH that I cut for ventilation.

[james mickelso]

For phals, I usually see them in the greenhouses growing in shaded light. Not nearly as bright as say catts and even cyms. Usually a heavier white painted plastic or I've seen them growing in a shade cloth house. The purple is most likely the species. My white phals never get any purple on them and I have mine in a brighter light than I would have them if I had more room. Pacific Orchids in Leucadia has them in the most shaded part of their growing house and they bloom very nicely. Remember that the more light you give above the normal requirements the more air movement you have to give to cool the surface of the leaf.

[Trini Kjeldz]

poor plant punished for hoarding a lil junk lol

[james mickelso]

You might get some weather excitement next week or so. Whatever happens is slated to go right through you folks back there. I'm an old weather guy from the us navy. Here's another from my series on "don't leave your orchids out in the noon day sun and go surfing stupid". Not good for them.