I have been careless with it and left it outside on the deck in quite chilly weather, down into 25-28 F range on several occasions and through some snowfalls. I prefer to leave it out in the sun and wind for as long as possible since tropical plants tend to languish in dry, dark indoor winter conditions.

Anyway, it seems to have had no damage, but I wonder if I have really sinned here and will pay for it later? I will take it inside for the colder temps/heavier snowfalls in a week or two.

You need some advice from the locals but my advice is it needs to be put inside now.

A name would be helpful because some of the so called warmth tolerant Cymbidiums may need to be kept warmer in winter.

Plant is sending up a flower spike, I noticed, so nothing major could be wrong.

If I had known that these plants were so cold tolerant I would have grown them sooner.

The one that is in bloom was vernalized last fall and the lowest it got was ~29F, but it was against the house so it might have been a little warmer. It was moved to the cool portion of the greenhouse where I work (in the spring) for another month and then brought into the warmth and it produced three spikes with a total of 54 blooms. After it had finished blooming I up-potted it.

The one that is outside has not bloomed in five years. I am being tough on it and if it doesn't bloom it is going to the great orchidarium in the sky. It will be taken to the greenhouse when the weather turns cold (by OUR definition of cold). I assume our streak of warm weather is going to end here real shortly.
Hope you have success.

Cheers,

Paul

There are;
So called warmth tolerant types such as Cymbidium Golden Elf.

The standard types that need cool summer nights and a coolish winter to flower.

The terrestrial Chinese cymbidiums. (only for experts).

The types with Australian native Cymbidiums in the breeding that flower in very late spring here.

Odds and sods.

This "cold" treatment in winter might not be appropriate for some.

"The one that is in bloom was vernalized last fall and the lowest it got was ~29F"

-29F??? For a cymbidium? For just about anything green?

That means approximately 29°.

They get a winter chill around these parts because the climate suits their needs.
Go for a walk around these parts and you will see them growing as garden plants and every year numerous numbers are sold to non orchid growers.

Average Winter Minimum 7C.

Average Winter Maximum 17C

Read my post above re. summer night minimums. Below 20C average is crucial for some types, that is why the "warmth" tolerant types have been developed for places such as Florida.

Bev. 40 to 50F Minimum at night is fine. Day temps should lift to 60 to 70F.

Here is latitude 33 something south. Go north a little bit and the Cymbidium ceases to be the dominant orchid in collections purely because summer nights are too warm.

What do you call a chill. Average temperatures of 7 to 17C are not that cold and are needed by the Cymbidium to develop the flowering spike, but the point i am trying to make is what happens in summer is crucial and no amount of chilling in winter will make the plant flower if summer conditions are unsuitable.

Look to the USA and the climate where they grow to the optimum.

After I got on this forum, I'm having my doubts about ever being successful with my new Cym. Living in Southern California, temps are mostly high. Right now we get about 20C in the daytime, and not lower than 10C at night.
Reading your posts I realize how important low temperatures seem to be in the winter.
Will my Cym make it here??????

Thanks for any input.
Ingrid

So my partially shaded outdoor deck was perfect for cymbidiums, according to arthurm. Yes, outdoor overnight temperatures here would rarely be above 17C (~63F) after the middle of August, so the plant had about 3 months of evening temps in the 27-63F range late summer to mid-autumn. Frankly, this past summer was so cool we only turned on the AC 3 nights.

I did find the tag for the orchid, but all it says is that it was grown in Santa Barbara and the hybrid name is left off, i.e. the tag is generic. Thanks, Westerlay orchids.

Just to clarify: I have approximately 5 months of frosty weather to deal with, and lots of things don't like being indoors for such a long time. For example, dahlia bulbs will shrivel up in that time frame, so I dig them up in late November (often thru a frozen layer) just to shorten the indoor time frame. I am not stating that the treatment is something dahlias like, just that it increases plant survivability. Likewise with the cymbidium, the longer it can stay outside, the less time it has to be in 25% humidity indoors.