First post, first orchid to survive in my house for a year

[NatalieS]

10C night temp is typically quite low for the standard hybrid phal as they are bred to prefer avg living room temps. When you don't know what's in the plant's genes though, you never quite know what it will tolerate.

Personally, I would not allow a hybrid phal to experience this night time temp for too long a period - I would bring it inside at this point.

[Kittyfrex]

Originally Posted by NatalieS

10C night temp is typically quite low for the standard hybrid phal as they are bred to prefer avg living room temps. When you don't know what's in the plant's genes though, you never quite know what it will tolerate.

Personally, I would not allow a hybrid phal to experience this night time temp for too long a period - I would bring it inside at this point.

While i would agree in 99,9% of cases, i have one particular phal that only bloomed this year at 10°c nighttime temp and 18 daytime. It grew well and strong for 4 years, but not a single spike, let alone bloom, until i moved it to my coldest room due to some house renovations. And bam, immediate flower spike, comming out after i belive a week or so.

That said, if you ever are in such dire needs, keep the damn plant bone dry, or rot will kill it, 100% of the time.

---------- Post added at 11:02 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:58 AM ----------

OP

Out of curiosity, how come you keep cacti inside when you seemingly have a porch?

[NatalieS]

Originally Posted by Kittyfrex

While i would agree in 99,9% of cases, i have one particular phal that only bloomed this year at 10°c nighttime temp and 18 daytime. It grew well and strong for 4 years, but not a single spike, let alone bloom, until i moved it to my coldest room due to some house renovations. And bam, immediate flower spike, comming out after i belive a week or so.

That said, if you ever are in such dire needs, keep the damn plant bone dry, or rot will kill it, 100% of the time.

Some std hybrid phals are cool-spiking, i.e. they need a temp drop to initiate the spike and are therefore winter blooming, so that is not uncommon, but 10C would (typically - the caveat I used previously as well ) be on the low side. You might achieve the same effect with a marked difference in diural range, perhaps. It could even be that the plant is blooming for the OP now, not because of temp, but because of Finland's very long daylight hours in summer.

Since the OP has bloomed their orchid indoors successfully, I can only assume that an extreme temp drop is not required for this particular plant to bloom. It's really just trial and error with some complex hybrids as you never know what's in their genes.

[Kittyfrex]

Originally Posted by NatalieS

Some std hybrid phals are cool-spiking, i.e. they need a temp drop to initiate the spike and are therefore winter blooming, so that is not uncommon, but 10C would (typically - the caveat I used previously as well ) be on the low side. You might achieve the same effect with a marked difference in diural range, perhaps. It could even be that the plant is blooming for the OP now, not because of temp, but because of Finland's very long daylight hours in summer.

Since the OP has bloomed their orchid indoors successfully, I can only assume that an extreme temp drop is not required for this particular plant to bloom. It's really just trial and error with some complex hybrids as you never know what's in their genes.

It had the same mean daytime temp in its previous location, with nights being usually 2 to 3 degrees lower (16 or 15). Weather it was the cold or something else that propped it into spiking is irrelevant, all i was trying to say is that if there was a dire need, most store bought phal hybrids will tolerate that temperature for a few days with little to no side effects. That said, i will also be the first to say not to keep phals like that for more than a week or so; plants can be hardy, but they ain't immortal.

As for why is it in spike, that i found out ment nothing. Most of mine do bloom rightly at "appropriate" time, but i have a few sequential spikers, and 2 or 3 (depending how you decide to count a keiki), that open their first blooms mid may or later, regardles of any temperature changes i made. I won't even go into side branches, those can pop out at any time.

You also answered my question about cacti; did not notice the part where OP is from finland. Whoops.

[estación seca]

You seem to be growing Trichocereus pachanoi under lights? How is it doing?

[Bunnyh]

Originally Posted by estación seca

You seem to be growing Trichocereus pachanoi under lights? How is it doing?

It's working pretty good, during the summer I keep them out, and during winter I try to give them some artificial light so they don't grow too thin, and the orchids are enjoying the same lights. It's just getting a bit hard to position a single LED when the cacti are this tall, and I think I read somewhere even the orchid spikes should get light...

---------- Post added at 12:36 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:34 AM ----------

Also it looks like the 10C night was about the most extreme it's going to get for a few weeks, it's not _that_ cold here usually. Last year I got sunflowers on my porch with flowers still looking good after the first snow had quickly melted in october.

[Kittyfrex]

Most plants can survive lower temps than expected, provided they are dry. All my tropical non orchids are outside, being fine at 4C for extended periods...provided they are bone dry. That includes C. arabica, M. deliciosa, F. benjamina/elastica. And snow belive it or not, is quite dry for what it is, especially if it doesn't readily melt.