If it's that bad I would definitely submerge the plant in some water with dish soap and leave it for a few hours. I use about a tablespoon / 15ml of dish soap per gallon / 3.78 liters water.

My Cyms and Nobiles are still outside as are my Onc alliance ( except for my twinkles, which are inside, inspike). I don't know yet what needs to come into the house (steady 68 F) and what can stay on the porch with the T-5s (70-80 F days and 55-65 F nights. The lights really heat it up in the daytime. I have Catts, Phals, Dens, Paphs and a few misc. genera . I'm not sure what prefers cool over what can stand cool. I know the Miltoniopsis prefer cool. Other than that , I don't know.
Any advice on that front would be appreciated :blushing:

Cattleyas can usually tolerate temperatures in the upper forties as long as they are not the warm growers (i.e. aclandiae, dowiana). I brought mine inside because it was cold and wet here. If yours are under lights, they shouldn't have any problems as long as you water in the morning.
The Dens are a huge group so it just depends on what it is. The Phal-type Dens. do not like temperatures below 60'F. I brought all of mine inside, even the kingianum (it came from Hawaii). Usually, you would leave a kingianum outside until temperatures are just above freezing.
Again, with Phals and Paphs, it just depends on what you have. If you have hot growers, like bellina or violacia, they should definitely be inside. If you have Just-add-ice orchids, they will probably be fine.

Thank you, Leafmite for your input. That really helps a lot.

We're having lows down to 50F/10C combined with a bit of rain this weekend, but next week it's supposed to be sunny and warmer. I'm going to risk leaving them out during the chilly spell and hopefully they won't drop any buds or worse.

We will see...

Our low tonight is supposed to be 41 F, so I brought in all but the Nobile and the Cymbidium. We are in the hill section, so Our temp will probably be in the 30s.

You can get the best forecast from weather.gov. Put in your City, ST and on the resulting map to the right, click on your exact location. You may need to enlarge the map a bit before clicking.

It doesn't work well in hilly areas because the cold air flows downhill, but it gives a good idea what to expect.

You can also get a high/low thermometer and track the actual temperatures over time at your home. They make relatively inexpensive wireless weather stations that broadcast data to your computer. Either manually or automatically, over time you can learn how much colder or warmer you are than your local official weather site. This is usually your nearest airport. For example, I've learned that on cold winter nights, I'm about 8 degrees F colder than the lows forecast or recorded at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

If you have Cattleyas in bud or anything with new growths, you might want to cover them to prevent them from getting wet, then cold. I lost a few buds on some of the large Cattleyas (that I am not keeping, anyway) last week with the cooler weather and rain.

I decided to keep the Cattleya mossiae and just ran out to get it. My resolve to get rid of all the larger Cattleyas has failed once more. :( I am getting rid of the others, however. :)

---------- Post added at 07:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:30 PM ----------

I used that website for a long time but a year ago, we had a terrible thunderstorm with a funnel passing right over our home and the forecast gave no indication of even rain, let alone violent storms. The funnel cloud touched down ten miles past our home. I use Weather Underground, now. Seems more accurate for our area.

Well it's chilly outside and everything's wet. Crowns and leaf axils full of water. It is windy, too. Tomorrow will be even cooler but still in the fifties (F) / low teens. Sunday back into the seventies (F) / low twenties.

Once again, we will see. If they rot, you told me so.

Soup and Irish coffee weather!