Is a Phalaenopsis better suited to being kept indoors or placed outdoors?
Do your Phalaenopsis orchids always die on you? Maybe you have put them in the wrong place! As a tropical epiphytic orchid, it really is better suited to staying indoors, while outdoors it is all too easy to run into trouble.
Advantages of indoor care
1. Light
What Phalaenopsis orchids fear most is direct sunlight! Half a day under the strong outdoor sun and the leaves develop scorched patches and turn yellow, or in serious cases simply wilt.
Indoors, however, things are different: choose an east- or south-facing windowsill, then hang a thin sheer curtain, and 4-6hours of soft, gentle indirect light a day is both kind and ample; the leaves can carry on photosynthesis steadily and grow glossier and glossier.
Even in a corner of the living room, as long as the light is bright, for example within 2m from a window, it is perfectly adequate.
2. Temperature
Tropical plants all fear both cold and heat, and outdoor temperature swings can send it into "stress": in winter, below 10℃it gets frostbite, and in summer, above 30℃it gets stifled, and a gust of wind makes it shiver even more.
Indoors it is far more controllable: keep it in the comfortable range of 15-28℃, keep it away from the cold draughts of door gaps and window gaps in winter, and in summer do not set the air conditioner below 26℃; adjust the airflow direction now and then to avoid direct blowing, and it will grow comfortably.
Unlike the outdoors, where it swings from cold to hot, the constant-temperature indoor environment lets Phalaenopsis orchids stay in a growing state all along, and the flowering period can be extended quite a bit too.
3.Roots and humidity
The roots of Phalaenopsis orchids are "aerial roots", which fear both waterlogging and drought, and also need high humidity; all of this is easier to achieve indoors:
Use the right pot and medium: choose a clear plastic pot +sphagnum moss as the growing medium, and place it in a well-ventilated spot indoors, and the air permeability is maxed out! Through the pot you can also observe the roots at any time--if they turn white, it is thirsty; if they turn green, the moisture is just right, and you never have to water blindly again.
Top up the humidity if it is not enough: in the north, heating in winter makes the air dry, and in the south, air-conditioned rooms are also prone to dryness; at such times put a humidifier beside it and keep the humidity at around 70%, and the leaf tips will not dry out and new shoots will sprout quickly. If you do not have a humidifier, placing a bowl of water beside the pot, or occasionally misting the surrounding air, works well too.
Common mistakes in outdoor care
Light too harsh: even in spring and autumn, the midday sun can scorch the leaves, leaving ugly spots that spoil its looks and harm the plant.
Temperature difference too great: hot and baking by day, then a sudden temperature drop at night, and Phalaenopsis orchids easily catch a "cold", causing bud drop and root rot.
High disease risk: outdoors there is more rain and more dust, the leaves easily pick up bacteria, and with unstable ventilation, black rot and soft rot can strike at any moment, and are hard to save even if you try.
In fact, growing Phalaenopsis orchids just means meeting its needs: no scorching sun, no freezing, no waterlogging, no drought. Put it in a corner with good indirect light, keep the temperature and humidity under control, and use the right pot and medium, and you can watch it go from pushing out new shoots to sending up flower spikes, reblooming year after year.