HelpfulGardener.com

Is it really true that frequently moving a houseplant from room to room causes it stress? I get worried about my orchid, being so close to a cold window at night, and wonder if it would kill it to keep moving it into a warmer room at night?

I think it depends on the plant. Ficuses are notorious for dropping leaves when moved.

Orchids are better kept above minimum temperature — my notes for fall container plant migration say

BRING IN ABOVE 60°F
-------------------------
Orchid 55 ~ 60

But I’ve left moth orchids outside in the 50’s, even dipping down to 40’s before bringing them inside for good, which seem to help get them to bloom on bringing inside into more comfortable temps of 60’s or warmer. One thing I make sure to do after moving them to warmth indoors is to mist them more often, thoroughly wetting the air roots until they are green.


They need to be kept from getting too hot in the summer and do best in the dappled shade under a tree outside. You probably have to keep them inside in air conditioned area.

Focuses? I'm really not much of a houseplant person...but I'm hoping to have success with my orchid, which is a cattleya. Sadly it's package doesn't give a minimum temperature it can tolerate. So it will not hurt to move my orchid everyday into a warmer room at night and back into to the window during the day?

I fixed it —ficuses — its The auto-correct on the new iOS being very stubborn and insistent on changing all the gardening related words to words it knows.

I killed my cattleya orchids — better wait for imafan.

...

phalaenopsis and phalaenopsis hybrids seem to be easier and more forgiving.

Ah, Ficus. Well, my mother has rubber plants and a.....something else that's in the ficus family.....I'll have to ask her...but as far as I know she doesn't move them around. My houseplant department includes a few Tillisandias, a Haworthia succulent and my cattleya which dwell in a well lit window. This is my very first orchid, and I'd actually like to see it bloom. If you'd like to see it, you'll find it in the flower gardening section. @Imafan has been very kind about providing advice on how to care for it, but I was just wondering if it would hurt it (or any other houseplant) to move it to a warmer area at night away from the winter during cold nights. I do know orchids are picky, as are many other houseplants...which is why a lot of past houseplants have gone to their death after entering my house....but I really wanted to try an orchid a try.

I grow all my plants indoors. I have Phalaenopsis hybrids which regularly bloom.

There are four factors to healthy plants: (1) Light; (2) Temperature; (3) moisture (as in watering); and (4) humidity (ambient air moisture). My living room is more of an atrium than anything else - it has tall windows and gets lots of natural light. I have a humidifier going during the day - it makes all the difference in the world.

To get a finicky Phalaenopsis to bloom, I subject it to a drop in temperature at night, but being careful not to subject it to moisture condensation, which is an open invitation for crown rot. After about a month, give or take, I look for a flower spike (which will be hard to tell from a root until it grows a bit). The reason this works, I am told, is because the plant, which enjoys warm, humid temps, goes into a bit of a shock at the cold snap and goes into reproductive mode to keep the lineage going.

Sounds plausible to me ... and it works!

As for the Ficus question, I have a non-variegated and variegated Ficus. I thought the variegated Ficus would be the one to drop its leaves when I brought it home from the nursery, but it's actually the one with all-green leaves which denudes itself when it's moved! The good news is that the leaves will grow back.

Happy gardening!

~JulieAnn