South Florida Cold Weather

How cold is it going to get tonight? All good outdoor orchid growers show be paying attention to the weather forecast. Know your plants. How low can each type go? Be careful. Many hard cane dendrobiums are the most sensitive....no lower than 60. Phals maybe down to 55. Most Vanda's can take 50 to 55, but 60 is real safe. Most cattleyas will be alright 45 to 50. Many nobile dendrobiums will take low 40's and some even to 35. The Callista section will be fine along with most encyclias as long as you do not let them frost. 

BEWARE....these are only generalizations.  Know your plant and know your environment.

Some ways to protect from the cold:

1.  Blocking the wind with plastic.
2.  Bringing plants into a garage
3.  Running a sprinkler system to water the plants during the coldest part of the night......( I would only do  this as a last resort)

How do you protect your plants?

Zygopetalum Ryan's Moonlight

Have you come across this hybrid?  I purchased one at the 2009 South Florida Orchid Show.  I have been told that it likes cool weather and to not let it get warmer than 75 F.  Just what I needed, an orchid that has environmental requirements that is hard to have in South Florida.

Well, anyway....I have kept it indoors in the air-conditioning all summer and even into December.  I have put it out just today since we should be getting cooler weather.....finally.

I have not been able to find this hybrid on Orchidwiz.  I have found a very few mentions of it on the internet, but with very little information.  I am hoping with the cool weather that it will bloom.  It typically blooms in the winter.  This will be the first year of me trying to get it to bloom.  When I bought it, it was in bloom with the typical Zygo coloring with a VERY STRONG fragrance.

I will update here on the blog with a picture, if I get a bloom.

In the meantime......let me know........do you know anything about Zygopetalum Ryan's Moonlight?

Rly Hwa Yuan Bay 'She Shu'

Many orchids in the Cattleya Alliance bloom during the winter and early spring. Unfortunately, most of my Cattleya's are still seedlings and are two or three years away from getting their first bloom. However, this one opened just yesterday. It is a hybrid developed by a Taiwanese grower. It is not a mini-catt but is compact and easy to grow in South Florida. It likes high cattleya light and ideally likes night time temperatures between 58 F and 85 F. I grow this hanging in the backyard in a wooden basket with NO media. I know this sounds strange; but I have found in South Florida that most cattleyas grow best mounted in some way with NO media. Do you grow yours that way? If so, let me know. Leave a comment. If you have cattleyas in pots outdoors and keep rotting them out, then try mounting them in an empty wooden basket, or on a wooden branch, or on a piece of tree fern plaque, or on a cedar round. The variations are endless and they will require less care and you will have more success in our rainy, South Florida climate.

DO YOU GROW VANDAS IN SOUTH FLORIDA?

If you do,leave a comment and share how this past season has been for you.

I have found that the unusually warm weather that has extended late into the year has made my Vandas grow faster and bloom more.

For example my Asco Motes Burning Sands now has its fourth bloom in the last sixth month. Usually, I have two really good blooms and maybe a third.

Have you had the same experience?

A Native Florida Orchid

Florida has nearly half of the species of orchids that are found in the United States and Canada.

One orchid that is native to Florida is probably familar to every orchid grower in Florida.

Encyclia tampensis. This orchid is also known as the Florida butterfly orchid and is native to Florida, the Bahamas and Cuba.

It grows abundantly in the central and southern counties, especially along waterways. Many orchid lovers grow these in their backyard with nearly no attention at all. They will grow on a wide variety of trees, including live oak, red maple, gum, bald cypress, buttonwood, pop ash, and pond apple. They like the high humidity of Florida and will take temperatures down to freezing, although will do better with temperatures no lower than 40 F.

They normally bloom in June and July, but they can also be found in bloom in every other month of the year.

Plants in cultivation have been known to have over 100 flower spikes with over 1500 flowers. The flowers have various shades of yellow, copper, green, bronze and purple. There is also a white form of the flower.

Do you have an ENCYCLIA TAMPENSIS? If so, let me know about your experiences with growing this orchid. Do you have it in a pot? If so, what kind of media? Or do you grow it mounted? What is it mounted on?