I made a foolish mistake. My min/max thermometer is placed where it is convenient for me to read rather than where it gives a true reading of night time temps in the GH. And I'm beginning to think the annual night time temps are consistently too high for flowering. I thought the GH was cooling to 55F at night, even in summer, but really I think its more like 60-62F. Very close to Rotor's classic experiment on photoperiod/temperatures and flowering in Cattleyas. So I was wondering about annual temperature fluctuations as they pertain to blooming. I always assumed these summertime highs were ameliorated by wintertime lows, and it all balances out in the the end, but now I'm beginning to wonder. I wonder if there's been any work on 'lead-time' and temperature? Are these summertime highs screwing up flower induction for fall? I don't get the kind of blooming rates I think I should be getting, and when flowers do form many times they bloom on exceedingly short spikes - often not even making it out of the sheath. I'm speaking of the Cattleya alliance here. Well, my paphs aren't blooming great either, but I know what my troubles are with them, *G*! Any input? K Barrett N Calif, USA _________________________________________________________________ Got Game? Win Prizes in the Windows Live Hotmail Mobile Summer Games Trivia Contest http://www.gowindowslive.com/summergames?ocid=TXT_TAGHM _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
