So who's put their plants out already?

[Leafmite]

I moved all my plants out over the past few weeks. If the temperatures drop, I will bring in the Piper Nigrum, Theobroma cacao and vanilla, cover the rest with plastic and, like someone else said, they should be fine if the temperatures are only low for a few hours. I've left orchids outside even in the upper 30's, covered with a thick, clear plastic dropcloth (weighted down so that they are protected from cold drafts) and they have been fine.

[Cntry]

I also put mine out in the last few days. I am watching them closely as its gone from the low 40s to 85 the last few days. What a Spring this has been.

This year I moved everything off the front porch and moved it to the back of the house where it is a bit more sunny. Most of my orchids are seedlings I deflasked last June and July so they will be a year old soon.

[Jungeoma]

I had brought mine out about four weeks ago, nights in the 50's, but suddenly it dropped to upper 30's and I hauled them all back in. It can get very cold at night here in the desert, even with temps in the 80's during the day. But I put them back out today, now the worry is the sun. I am going to have them under double shade cloth to see how that works.

[hanzy08]

I had put mines out since early april and the lowest it got i think is 37F. I have mostly vandas outside and all of them seemed ok with the cold except the sanderiana which showed signs of stress since it is a hot grower. I thought they would sulk buy they did surprisingly well!!

[LovePhals]

I also put about 20 of my orchids outside in early March. We had low 40s in March and a few high 30s. I have Vanda seedlings, mature Vandas, phalaenopsis, oncidiums, and my new Blitella outside. I was shocked how well all my plants are doing with such temp ranges. It is now almost 90 during the day getting into May and 60s at night. More watering b/c it hasn't rained and its getting warm. I am not going to baby them, just leave them out and water.
I did notice today my phal den and oncidium have some sunburn, it was a very warm sunny day. I didn't get sunburn in the cooler temps even when the sun was out.

[cbuchman]

I have everything outside now except my most warm loving guys and I only have a few of those. It's been mostly in the 50F - 60F at night with the one occasional night in the high 40F. So I haven't been too worried about the cold.

We haven't had rain in a while and the humidity is low, so I have had to watch and water a bit more than usual, especially for my mounts

[lotis146]

Sounds like the fun has begun for so many! Not sure if I can credit them being outdoors but my Propescapetalum Pop Glicky has finally started a new growth, this is several weeks after I repotted and discovered a very unhappy plant and it seemed to have been two plants together...either that or the root loss enabled a pbulb and young growth to 'fall off'. The bigger of the two (in bloom/bud when I got it) is the one with a new growth.

Thanks for the advice on the cold. I've got quite a few plants but probably can find something to cover them up with...however things should be good for the weekend at least except for a good 3-4 days of rain/storms. Do you guys let your plants get rained on for several days in a row? I'm not seeing adverse effects from getting a couple days in a row to start but hmm...

My Zygo triste is in the outdoor group as well. In fact only Zglm. Rhein 'Moonlight' & Zns. Roquebrune & Prom. silvana (of my Zygo alliance) are still inside and b/c they're in spike/bloom. There's another leaf browning on the triste, oddly only the top half of the leaf browns (have yet to cut the latest) and then all seems to be fine after I cut it.

Very interesting how many of you have your plants out in the cooler 40s and they're doing well, that's very encouraging and a testament to how much they can endure. I put a Butterwort out too btw and it has SO MANY more bugs on it! It's quite rewarding to have them outside, the nerd in me is very excited to watch them grow and thrive out there. My back deck is like a little tropical oasis.

[Mandy2705]

I was going to put some orchids out but it's supposed to snow on Sunday and the night time low predicted for that night is 30

[Optimist]

I have had mine out since the beginning of the month. All but the phals. I am quite concerned about potential crown rot now that I have these going, so they are strictly indoors plants.

Last year I over did the sun on my large cattleyas. I am hoping to get the plants started again. In the summer I will need to invest in a good shade cloth. Right now they are under a tree.

We are in the monsoon season here. Rains hard and constant for a few days and then no more rain. Good time to flush the salts out of the pots.

This summer also, my first paphs. I am thinking they might have to stay with the phals.

[ula]

Got all of mine out last weekend. We went from winter straight to summer temps here this year.