We can apply so many tips to keep moisture the plants.
1. keep water trays around the orchids.
2. hang soaked sheets around the plants.
3. I always mulch out with long coconuts palms or dried leaves that can hold moisture for at least two days.
4. I got a tip from this our own Orchid-board threads that they soak the entire pot for few hours to maintain moist.
5. Water the entire area with water and soak the ground too. And water with garden hose pipe.
over grown canopy will help too by giving shelter.
We had rain! We are to get more! We have normal summer weather predicted now!
I hope the large air/water current patterns are not permanently changing (or entering a long term change). This could mess everything up.
We had our turn at this (the drought) last year. Very hot, no rain for weeks on end. This year we are ahead of the normal rainfall for this season. So, I know and sympathize with those of you who are suffering from lack of rain. I lost some orchids due to the heat last year so I will not replace those particular ones because who knows when we will have a repeat.
Our fun and games will come at the end of August and beginning of September-hurricane time :-(
Beverly A.
I have given up on normal summers. I am not going to replace my aerangis citrata. Two years in a row, I lost thriving citratas to the heat. Aerangis ellissi has no such problem. Maybe I will get a different aerangis that, like ellissi, is more tolerant of heat (I love them when they bloom).