I move my orchids outside every summer. As the plants mature and
become accumstomed to the sun, sunburn becomes more rare. The old
leaves will suffer most unless they received natural light in the past.
The photo cells in the leaves develop for the brightest light levels
they receive, they can then adjust more easily for the dimmer light
than to brighter light. It is much easier for me to start with smaller
plants and give them an opportunity to grow under tougher conditions,
than get a more mature plant to adjust. The change can set a crotchety
old plant back a couple of years until the new tougher growth is the
only growth.

I have one Catt that has a bikini burn on a leaf. I made the mistake
of moving the plant next to it. A leaf on the moved Catt was shading a
leaf on the Catt that burned. Looks strange, a burn about 2 1/2' wide
in the center of the leaf. Either side of the burn had received the
light at the unshaded intensity until about noon to 1 pm.

T. helps with the orchid migration in the spring (grunt work) and fall.
I supervise the orientation of the tables and trays. I help carry
them in and out, but if he gets ahead of me, I turn all the plants to
match the orientation to the sun to how they were situated to the
windows in the room. He dogs me and humors me, but after 8 years I
have a pretty good idea of where the plants should be for the best
reaction to the light.

He's so funny. He's been hounding me about the number of plants I
have. I finally listed one on e bay. He more or less ignores the
orchids unless they're in bloom, but when I brought the division to
list, he's asking me if I want to sell "Pothead" (his shortened name).
I really have to pay attention to what he calls the individual plants
to tell which one he's talking about, the name is shortened to what he
can remember easily, either from the name on the tag or a dynamic
feature such as fragrance or flower.

Well I'd better go for now, I'm about 3 beers into a 6 pack and
rambling. Next I'll be reciting limericks or telling you T's name for
Brassovola nodosa. I think when he first smelled one it gave him
flashbacks to shore leave while he was still in the service.

Nancy