Quote:
Originally Posted by Jmbaum
What species have you done well with? and what can you think of that, youd term risky?
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Andy's site has very detailed information on temperatures, even for lots of orchids that aren't currently available. That being said, the origin of the particular clone seems to play an important role - I have a perpetually unhappy
Dendrobium 'Aussie's Hi Lo' (cuthbertsonii x laevifolium) and a
Dendrobium limpidum that almost died and is very slowly making keikis, both from Ecuagenera. I have a suspicion that they are from one of the higher elevations within the species' range. On the other hand I have a
Dendrobium cuthbertsonii, which is renowned for disliking heat, but I bought it from a seller who says his temps soar into the 90s in summer, and it's doing pretty well. So it's important to ask the specific seller about the specific temps for the plant you are buying.
According to Andy's, the variegated
Mediocalcar decoratum doesn't like temps above 80, but mine (not from Andy) has been doing OK in my paludarium with temps into the upper 80s and a night temp drop into the lower 70s. It also has the most wonderful pink edges to the white stripes, which you sometimes get with variegated plants in high light, but in this case might be mostly on new foliage.
I have lots of Pleurothallids, mostly "warmth tolerant", that are growing very well for me. Masdevallias will helpfully let you know about excess heat with leaf spotting or other leaf issues. Pleurothallids that do well for me:
Barbosella gardneri
Lepanopsis 'Michele'
Lepanthes calodictyon
Lepanthopsis astrophora
Masdevallia erinacea
Masdevallia ignea x discoidea
Masdevallia wendlandiana
Pleurothallis dressleri
Pleurothallis grobyi
Pleurothallis ornata
Pleurothallis prolifera
Restrepia brachypus
Restrepia dodsonii
Trichosalpinx chamaelepanthes
I have a
Begonia darthvaderiana (not doing well) and a
Begonia tropaeolifolia in a special setup in my closet - neither tolerates temps above 80. Before settling on my closet I walked around my house with a thermometer and found the absolute coolest spot, so now I can grow a few low light, solidly intermediate plants, but I don't think the closet gets the nice temp drop that my paludarium does.
Plants that I don't dare try, but wish I could:
Epidendrum medusae
Masdevallia veitchiana (and lots of its hybrids)
Some Sophronitis species (I have a happy cernua)
A few cold growing Pleurothallids
However, if your temps end up actually going down to 50, then you won't want to grow most of the plants I'm currently growing. My temps are 60-75 winter and 72-90 summer.