Orchids and vacation

[butterfly_muse]

Good morning, everyone!

It's a long ways out yet, but one of the things I have been increasingly researching is what to do with my 'chids during the fall and winter.

This coming November, from the 16th to the 22nd, my fiance and I will be going on our honeymoon

The question is - what do I do with my 'chids? Someone will have to come to the house to feed our kitties, so I'm sure if I asked, that same someone would water them. Or even house sit. But we've got a smart thermostat and generally I imagine it's going to be set into the 50s-60s, which I know is not good for the orchids.

I'm wondering if I should set them up with a space heater in a designated room (our office) because they're going to be in there under lights anyway (not enough during fall and winter to stay in the window, I'm afraid)...or could they handle 6 days of temps that low? This will be my first winter with my collection so I don't want to kill anyone.

I'm also thinking of using the heater method during the winter when the temps really drop. Just having them all in one room that can stay warm and blocked off from the cats and the cold while the rest of the house gets chilly when we're not here during the day. I personally would be quite happy leaving the house at a constant 70 something odd degrees during the day, but fiance insists on turning the temp down to save on heating costs, so.

What does everyone else do? In both situations?

[orchidsarefun]

my 2c worth would be that a house in 50s and early 60s would be uncomfortable for humans, let alone orchids. If that temp setting is just for a week, then the potential $ cost of losing your orchids is more than the incremental heating cost ? Also not sure that a space heater is 100% safe....
Hopefully you have gas heating.........its much cheaper than electricity and I have noticed my heating bill considerably reduced year over year.

[butterfly_muse]

The temperature is only set like that when we're not home. Right now our thermostat is at 85 when we're not there and it auto kicks on to cool to about 78 at 3:30. It'd be the same during the winter.

We do you have gas cooling and heating however the system in our new place is very old and inefficient so it's actually costing us more to use it less, especially with the new rate hikes. But since we're just renting an apartment we can't replace system or do anything to it other than try to use less of it.

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[orchidsarefun]

let us know who wins the battle of the wills
Your fiance is correct in his thinking.....but for the orchids.
Maybe them being under lights will also keep them a bit warmer...
Hopefully someone who has done what you suggest can answer. I have tried all sorts of temp combinations but came to the conclusion that a constant temp is better for 16hrs a day, and a lower temp is better for overnight. ( winter )

[butterfly_muse]

He is also putting together an aeroponics system to see if he can grow stuff inside (not pot, lol. Bell peppers and herbs). It was initially supposed to be for me since our new place doesn't have a balcony and I was sad that I couldn't grow things like I used to be able to...but now it's more of an "I'm an engineer and I want to make this work, gah dammit!" thing...I am hoping that if he sees his own plants thriving he will be less likely to be like "Whatever the plants will be fine in the cold." Lol!

Seedling pads were also an option I was considering. I know the space heater could be dangerous, and I'm not sure if the oil one we have (it looks like a radiator?) is more or less dangerous than, say, an electric one...? But I'm just trying to weigh my options. It's still hot, and I've still got time (the temps will probably be steady until late October), but I want to make sure I plan and prepare because the weather here is such that it will be nice and 70 and perfect for months and then all of a sudden it will drop to 30 and everything will die. O_O! And mid-Nov while we're gone is usually when it is getting cold and variable like that. But I want them to live all winter, not just while we're gone, haha!

[WhiteRabbit]

My home in winter is usually around 60-65 daytime, and as low as low 50s over night. Unless you have true hot growers, I wouldn't expect problems at these temps. It may be lower than ideal for some, but not likely to cause problems.

I don't think having a space heater on while no one is home is a good idea ...

[butterfly_muse]

I agree. I was just trying to figure out a solution and we've never used the thing, lol. Really I should put it on craigslist...free with purchase of our old tv! You haul...

All I've got at present are three cattleya types, two big phals, three mini phals and the beallara. Are those safe to have at lower temps?

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[WhiteRabbit]

From my experience, I think all should be fine with night temps in the 50s, day temps in the 60s. I had some warm growing species Phals that I believe were unhappy in winter in my cool home, but the hybrids I have do fine. I haven't had issue with Catts or Onc alliance intergenerics either.

[butterfly_muse]

As far as I'm aware my phals are all hybrids..all but one are NoID. That makes me feel slightly better. I'm planning on getting them lights to supplement the short days, which I hope will help keep then slightly warmer as well.

[Discus]

Although some orchids aren't supposed to like temperatures below about 15ºC (~60ºF), mine all happily overwinter at a minimum of 10ºC (~50ºF), including various phals and other vandaceous things that are supposed to sulk when cold; that said, the sun generally then raises the temperature by some 5 or so degrees C or more during the day. One thing you may find is that cold spell prompts them all to spike a few weeks after you get back - a late wedding present.

Houses in South Africa are generally not centrally heated (nor insulated), so it's pretty common for them to sit at 50-60ºF in winter {or less!}; plenty of my LOS people keep all their plants outdoors (mostly in shadehouses rather than greenhouses/tunnels) and it regularly gets to 10ºC (or lower) at night - although they all sit on the coast and are more buffered from extremes than we are ~60km inland and a few hundred meters higher up.

Point-heating (i.e. seedling mats) is often more energy efficient than space heating [you can work this out by comparing wattages] - akin to that campfire tale of native americans making a small fire and getting close to it, while paleface make big fire to warm whole world!

Given that's only about a week, most phals will be happy with a good watering before you leave - but if you have mounts, you may need someone to give them the odd sprinkling (this makes our collection need a caretaker when we go away).

---------- Post added at 11:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:55 AM ----------

Oh, one thing I meant to say but forgot - what orchids *won't* like is a sudden change from a house kept at 80 or whatever and then suddenly dropped to 50 overnight. If you can bear it, try dropping the thermostat by about 5 degrees a week until you get to whatever you're planning to set it to while you're away.
Keep your fans on to stop cold spots by the windows where plants generally sit. My wife thinks it's madness to have fans on in the winter, but she forgets she's warm blooded (despite her reptilian tendencies to bask near sources of heat), and that reducing the boundary layer when you're already at the ambient temperature won't make you "colder" (unless of course you're wet, in which case, watch out for evaporative chilling, which *can* be a problem in winter).