S/H and wintering outdoors
This spring I switched about 1/3 of my plants to S/H (mostly dends and a few catts). My orchids are grown outside in the mild climate of Climate of Central Florida. They're brought indoors only if the temperature dips below 48 degrees. A scarey thought just occurred to me. I've noticed from posted photos that many growers who are pleased with S/H appear to grow them in a more temperature controlled environment. Since most tropical orchids don't like their roots exposed to extensive cool, damp environments and prefer a winter rest from watering then what will happen to the S/H plants during winter? Instead of allowing the S/H medium to wick up water should I just occassionally mist the medium during the plants natural rest period as the temperature begins to drop? I never gave any thought to the orchids resting phase. How does this work with S/H? As always, your comments are greatly appreciated.
|