day to night temp change and indoors growing

[Rothrock42]

I'm in a smallish one bedroom apartment. I have both heat and AC. During the summer I try for 75 to 80 during the day and 65 to 70 at night. During the winter about 5 degrees cooler. My bedroom is a few degrees cooler than the living room and also, therefore, a bit more humid.

Both have floor to ceiling walls of windows which face east, so I get a lot of ambient light during the first half of the day. Which I supplement with lights.

[Arizona Jeanie]

Hello NGT, I found your question oddly thought provoking. For me, the short answer is that I've never had the means to keep my indoor temps so tightly controlled. My house is hot in summer, but generally cools off at night. It is, of course, cooler in winter, and I sleep a lot better when I can get it down to 58 or so at night. But then, I don't live in Houston, so I don't know what you have to deal with there.
The longer answer is a little more complicated--I don't want my house to be so remote from the outside world that the inside temperature barely changes through the year. I guess if that were important to me, I would have picked a different house, or changed my budget priorities. I love having the windows wide open and the breeze blowing through in the summer--and a good part of spring and fall. I enjoy hearing the birds, and if I pay attention, I can tell from the alarm call if the neighbor's cat is stalking the quail (it's a different call for a hawk). And aren't winters supposed to be cooler? I would find it punishing to live closed up in a climate bubble with constant temps through the year. It seems odd to me that people find this desirable.
It was a surprise to me to find out that the Phal orchids get along well with all this, who knew? Anyhow, this probably isn't very helpful to you, but thanks for asking!

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by nogreenthumbs

What do you do to accomplish a large temp swing?

Live in coastal California...

Seriously, I think that estación seca nailed it... select orchids that grow well in the conditions that you have. Nobody can have all the possible conditions to grow all possible orchids. (At least not for any reasonable price in any reasonable space) The difference between an easy one and a hard one is how closely its needs match what you can provide. There are plenty of tropical orchids that not only don't need to cool down, they don't even want to. Choose those. We all end up pushing the envelope to see what we can get away with, but that's not the place to start.

[nogreenthumbs]

That sounds like a plan.

[ShadePlant]

Nogreenthumbs I think our environments are similar. I live in New Orleans and it often doesn't cool down at night past 80 degrees or so in the summer. My orchids are on shelves by an east and north facing window in a sunroom that only gets overflow AC in the summer. In the winter I turn a heater on if the temps get too low. I have phals, paphs, dendrobium, epidendrum, and a few inter generic that seem to grow well in there without the drop in temp at night. It's having a drop in the winter that helps trigger the flowering for many of them.

[cvelez]

In San Antonio, I'm able to get about ~8-10 deg of change on my windowsill. I have everyone on a south facing window with a small room humidifier, an oscillating fan, and the window about 4 inched open. My humidity ranges from 60-80%, with higher humidity in the morning. Everyone appears to be happy and I've had new growth on quite a few of my orchids in the past month or so. I'm growing Neofinetia falcata, Schomburgkia crispa, Dendrobium anosmum, Brassavola nodosa, Ascocentrum ampullaceaum, and several others to include Lowe's bought juvenile orchids.

Not sure how different the climate is between San Antonio and Houston.

Hope this helps.

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by ShadePlant

Nogreenthumbs I think our environments are similar. I live in New Orleans and it often doesn't cool down at night past 80 degrees or so in the summer. My orchids are on shelves by an east and north facing window in a sunroom that only gets overflow AC in the summer. In the winter I turn a heater on if the temps get too low. I have phals, paphs, dendrobium, epidendrum, and a few inter generic that seem to grow well in there without the drop in temp at night. It's having a drop in the winter that helps trigger the flowering for many of them.

OK, for some orchids at least, it's more about winter to summer, and maybe with a window cracked. Good to know. I agree that our climate should be similar

Originally Posted by cvelez

In San Antonio, I'm able to get about ~8-10 deg of change on my windowsill. I have everyone on a south facing window with a small room humidifier, an oscillating fan, and the window about 4 inched open. My humidity ranges from 60-80%, with higher humidity in the morning. Everyone appears to be happy and I've had new growth on quite a few of my orchids in the past month or so. I'm growing Neofinetia falcata, Schomburgkia crispa, Dendrobium anosmum, Brassavola nodosa, Ascocentrum ampullaceaum, and several others to include Lowe's bought juvenile orchids.

Not sure how different the climate is between San Antonio and Houston.

Hope this helps.

Good to know. I suspect our environments are not too far off. You probably get a little hotter in the summer and cooler in the winter, and I'm betting not quite as humid.

[cvelez]

Average Humidity during the day lately has been 30-40%, supposed to get a heat index of 105 today. The adenium outside loves it. I would venture to say the orchids would hate it if I put them outside.

[Joseia]

I grow orchids, houseplants and dwarf citrus indoors under various types of lights: LED, T5HO and MH. I have phals under the T5HO. A Phal Samera from Big Leaf Ochids refused to flower. So to give it a really good temp drop I put it inside a large cooler standing on its side with a Blue Ice pack wrapped in a towel at night. The orchid sat on a shelf above the ice pack, not directly on the ice pack. Temperature inside the cooler with the lid slightly opened dropped down to 62-65F and it spiked after a month.

Sounds crazy, but it worked for me lol.

[nogreenthumbs]

Originally Posted by Arizona Jeanie

I sleep a lot better when I can get it down to 58 or so at night.

Are you an eskimo? I've got a pretty sturdy constitution and I like cool weather (I tend to run a bit hot), but I couldn't sleep in that weather without something completely covering my head.

I love having the windows wide open and the breeze blowing through in the summer--and a good part of spring and fall. I enjoy hearing the birds

We do too, but comfort prevails. Humidity here is the killer. It makes temps that would be comfortable elsewhere very miserable. We're fortunate to live on the 5th floor corner apartment with 2 sliding-glass doors on the east and north side, so we can get a really nice breeze. If we were in a different apt or a house, it's possible that there would be no breeze at all. That would mean hot and muggy and still which is miserable. I generally do fine in cold weather, but the missus gets much colder than I do, so we won't be open as much when it's nice and cool.

---------- Post added at 09:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Joseia

I grow orchids, houseplants and dwarf citrus indoors under various types of lights: LED, T5HO and MH. I have phals under the T5HO. A Phal Samera from Big Leaf Ochids refused to flower. So to give it a really good temp drop I put it inside a large cooler standing on its side with a Blue Ice pack wrapped in a towel at night. The orchid sat on a shelf above the ice pack, not directly on the ice pack. Temperature inside the cooler with the lid slightly opened dropped down to 62-65F and it spiked after a month.

Sounds crazy, but it worked for me lol.

Super cool! So there are options for the space and climate challenged!