constantly change the place of my orchids

[Roshan]

hello everyone,

i am Roshan from Mauritius. i have 5 orchids plants. but they are not blooming...i constantly change the place of the orchids ..in the morning i keep them near a window facing the east and the room temperature around 24 degrees Celsius. but at night i keep them outside on my balcony so that they can get a cooler temp of around 19 degrees Celsius. please advise if i am doing it right.
thanks

[Paphluvr]

Can you tell us more about what types of orchids you have? This may not be enough of a temperature swing to induce blooms or it may not be enough light for some genus.

[Roshan]

well, i have 3 Phalaenopsis and 1 dendrobium.. and i have one which i dont know the specific name. i can attach pics though.

thanks

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

I would not do that and here is why.... Plants orient their growth towards a light source to gain maximum benefit from sunlight and moving them around keeps plant confused as they are now changing the orentation towards light instead of continuing to absorb at the best angle that they have already adjusted to.
I always recommend to mark an edge of the pot with a white crayon or other easily recognized marker so when pot is picked up it is returned to same exact orientation and plant can just keep absorbing light at the angle that it is already set for.
This can be easily detected when you see phaelenopsis flower spikes shaped like a cork screw. That happened because the plant was moved around when in spike....

[jcec1]

Originally Posted by Roshan

well, i have 3 Phalaenopsis and 1 dendrobium.. and i have one which i dont know the specific name. i can attach pics though.

thanks

If the pics are current, then your two phalaenopsis are in spike and will bloom shortly - I would try to keep them in the one place - constantly moving them could lead to accidents and broken spikes.

The unknown one looks like an oncidium type orchid.

[dbarron]

Wow, I applaud your dedication in doing this every day.
I am of the opinion to contradict Ben above. If you're doing this every day, it's fairly analagous to the sun's movement every day. No harm (and in fact some good...even growth) will occur as a result of plant movement and light orientation.
That doesn't mean you can't sun burn them by a bad choice, but just moving them is no problem at all. His example is the result of moving plants with long periods of time in between moves. That's totally different than a regular timely move in short intervals (like daily).

[Puja]

Though your phals are already in spike, it might be useful to consider the following information (as it can save you a lot of hassle).
The temperature drop that phals require to set spikes and start flowering is not a temperature different between day and night, but the average temperature over a week or two compared to the average of the next week or two. In other words, placing your phals in a cooler place at night does nothing to help them spike if you always do it. It might help if you do not do this for two weeks, then start doing it the weeks after (though it will only count for half of the temperature drop as the plants will still be inside during the day).

As dbarron said, it is okay to have this sort of routine as long as you do it consistently. It is actually okay to move your plants around in the same order to the same positions every day. Conditions would change in one place during the day/night cycle as well. The thing to watch out for is putting them in a place that has a dramatically different environment in one go - for instance, placing them from a very humid position to a very dry room without acclimitisation. As that is unlikely to happen in nature, they might have trouble adapting to it.

[Ray]

You sure that odd one out isn't a cymbidium?

[Roshan]

thank you all for the fruitful suggestion.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by dbarron

I am of the opinion to contradict Ben above. If you're doing this every day, it's fairly analagous to the sun's movement every day. No harm (and in fact some good...even growth) will occur as a result of plant movement and light orientation.

The question of harm does not come into play in the context of moving the plant to the point where it has to reorient itself to the light. You are correct, there is no harm that will come to the plant as a result of this. It is mostly a question of aesthetics. There is also the minor issue of the plant wasting its energy on reorienting itself to the light so often.

"Corkscrew spikes" or "helicopter leaves" are some of the signs that the plant's orientation to light has been changed quite often throughout its development. Unless you like this look, it is recommended to stop changing the plant's orientation to the light so often.