when to move plants outside?

[C. Berlin]

I have a small collection with a lot of phals, and a few dendrobiums, paphs, cymbidiums, masdevalias, oncidiums, lc, and a brassia, odontoglossum, angraecum, and a vanda. They spend all winter on shelves in front of patio door windows, and all summer on my back porch. My question is when is a good point to move them outside? I live in Pittsburgh, PA, and nights here are now mostly in the 50's, occasionally in the high 40's. I know of course that different species have different requirements here. I've put the masdevalias out already but none of the rest yet. What I've read would seem to suggest that the cymbidiums could also probably go out now, maybe I should wait another week or two on the phals, and hold back the vanda and agraecum awhile later. I will appreciate any suggestions from the amazing collective experience that you all bring to this newsgroup. Thanks, Chuck Berlin

[C. Berlin]

My back "porch" is really a deck with a railing. I've put up some lattice work above where the orchids go, but there's no framework to further enclose this. My family asks me from time to time why I don't put up a greenhouse. I know that I'll never get to the next level of orchid growing without doing this, but it seems like this would then take a very large amount of time, energy, and expense to go forward with and maintain. While the rewards would be potentially great, I think that at this point I'm at about the right homeostasis for energy expended vs. enjoyment gleaned. Thanks for your suggestion. Chuck Berlin