How hot can these guys go?

[Pilot]

I'm growing a violacea. Its small and pathetic and needs some serious help when it comes to its care. For whatever reason I could never get this thing to grow well for me, until I found out they like it brighter and warmer. So in an attempt to save this plant, I have placed it inside a large jar, with the top open to the sunroom. During the second half of the day, this South-West-North facing room gets inundated with huge amounts of sun and it warms up fast. However, inside the glass jar, it gets hot and very humid, which is good re the humidity because here in Colorado, a good shake of a wet towel will leave it bone dry!

I have not measured the temp-- but its easily pushing 100 if not above, inside the jar. I don't want to bake this plant, but would like to know how hot these things can get. I've been in the tropics before where temps can reach inbelievable temps and humidity that makes you want to melt. So I'm hoping this plant will enjoy it but cannot be sure.

Your thoughts? This plant needs special care to get back on its feet and get going. In order to give it good light, it needs to be in this room, as its warm, but possibly too warm.

[Duane McDowell]

My experience with these was not so much that they need to be hot, but that they don't tolerate cold very well. They can be really slow growers if they are unhappy. They like constant moisture without being soggy. They seem to like bark mixes better than some other media - they're more fussy about substrate than hybrids.
If you want to check any plant for temperature and light tolerance, feel the leaves during the warmest part of the day. If the leaves feel cooler than the surrounding air, the plant is transpiring properly. If not, the plant is losing moisture faster than it is taking it in. In this case, the plant should be moved to a more shaded or cooler location.
Good luck!

[Pilot]

Thanks Duane....that's interesting....and a little disturbing! Almost all of my plants are warm-to-touch at the warmest time of the day. However, I'm going to figure this doesn't last long as they are all doing really well in general. Most of the day, they get bright, indirect light. My violacea in question, though-- well, I made sure the top was open on this jar because it was toasty! I just keep abusing this poor plant. (

[Duane McDowell]

There's an old saying that if you kill 100 plants you're a good grower, and that if you kill 1000 you're a professional. My sense is that orchid growers don't acknowledge this nearly enough. Good luck!

[Ray]

You have to kill your weight in plants to be known as an "expert".

Concerning temperature, I have heard it said that orchids shut down their metabolism at 93°F.

[Ben Belton]

My plants are outside in my carport. We've almost hit 100 several days here and everything including the bellinas and violaceas are growing great.

[SpeciesNut]

I love this saying!It REALLY makes me feel better if I kill one!

Originally Posted by Duane McDowell

There's an old saying that if you kill 100 plants you're a good grower, and that if you kill 1000 you're a professional. My sense is that orchid growers don't acknowledge this nearly enough. Good luck!

[Duane McDowell]

If it's true that killing your weight in orchids makes you an expert - I used to be an expert!
I haven't been working in the greenhouse for fourteen years, so I weigh a lot more. And now the orchids that I grow weigh a lot less. It would be a real drag to kill my weight in Lepanthes (but I'm doing what I can!).

[JennS]

I have one if these that seem to be doing pretty goos despite me leaving it out and it getting most of it's leaves sunburnt. However, other than that episode it does quite well outside I Florida (in shade). Mine only got sunburnt from being in direct sun in the afternoon.

Anyway, mine grows outdoors all year unless we are getting a frost then it comes inside. The temp gets up to 95 in the summer and with the heat index lately it has been 106. All seems to be well with it and is happily producing a new leaf and roots. I grow it on a cork mount with spaghnum moss over the roots. I water it about every day in summer and every other day in cold weather. It dries out pretty quick at these temps and it has a pretty small amount of spag on it.