This summer in the UK has been one of the warmest we’ve had in sometime so while some of my outdoor plants have grown brilliantly (tomatoes, datura) its not really been the best time to grow cool loving highland orchids.
Normally in the highland tank I can count on temps of around 20°C during the day and then that dropping at night. This year the day time temps have been ok even at the height of the heatwave getting to no more than 21-22°C but given the warmth outside I wasn’t getting the cooling at night. In the end I settled on a combination of a cheap Chinese evaporation cooler and ice packs to mostly get the drop needed. It wasn’t quite as much as would be ideal but it helped.
It does seem that the orchids haven’t minded too much and a number have flowered with others showing plenty of new growth. Oddly even one of my hybrid phalaenopsis which normally flower after a period of cool temperatures has decided to put on a display.
And last, but by no means least the phalaenopsis.
