Min Temps
 

Hey all,

Sorry, I havent been very active here in a while. I just moved to Austin, Texas from Honolulu and have to adjust to the temps. I have my orchids outside now. What minimum temps do you guys allow your orchids to endure for a night? We are mostly in the mid 50's at night, but occasionally the temp drops into the 40's though. Is this too low? I have a pretty wide range of orchids, from Catasetums, Stans, Catt, Dends, etc. Will one night in the low to mid 40's do damage? Thanks!

Hi Steve. Nice to have you back on OB.

In Central Florida my cut off temperature is 48 degrees. Lower temperatures might not kill a plant but it does stress them. Who needs more stress, right?

Dips in temperatures are beneficial for some plants like my aphyllum, for example. One night last year it dropped to 30, but I was unable to bring any of my plants indoors. All my chids survived the short term blast of cold, but it did cause leaf blemishes on my vandaceous plants. My phals were unscathed. They were on my porch at the time, where it stays a few degrees warmer.

In Florida, the precursor to cold is usually rain. I'm extra cautious under those conditions. Windchill is something else I closely monitor.

Thanks for the advice Junebug! So one night of low 40's should be ok? The rest of the week will be mid to upper 50's and then 60's. I don't mind stressing my plants, actually I go out of my way to stress them! Up until now its been with high light though, not cold. lol The reason I ask is because it will be a pretty big ordeal to bring them all back in!