Potinara Free Spirit "Lea", my first Catt. Too hot?
I've been growing phals for about four years now and I finally joined an orchid society here in the Miami area. They give away a free plant to everyone who joins and the choices were a dendrobium or a potinara. Since I already had a few dendrobiums I thought I might try something new.
Even though it's not in bloom, I looked it up after I had taken my Potinara home and discovered it will have cute yellow flowers. I really wanted to try and make it bloom, but after reading about Cattleyas I discovered that they need nightime temperatures of 60 degrees!
Here in Miami it's mostly about 80 at night all year round except a few months in the winter when we get cold fronts. I don't even air condition my house that cool. We keep it around 70. I don't understand why the orchid society would give me an orchid that requires such cold nights. My grow area is on my front porch, where my phals do great.
My Pot. is in good condition now and is putting out a new leaf. What should I do to keep it from dying let alone reblooming??
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