Giant home for bulbo

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by RoseSD

I want to attend your Show and Tell session Roberta!

If you want my personal Show and Tell, just check out the Species link in my signature line... half to 2/3 of the plants in any month are mine. And I note when I post a new month. Yes, only species, but that's where you'll find the more unusual things, and increasingly, that's the majority of my collection. You can find a few of my hybrids, as well as species, in the Cool Growing Orchid Society newsletter archive - I write that every month too, and include a lot of content from my own collection.

[RoseSD]

Hi coconut!
Mine is indoors at night and under 40% shade several hrs during the shade in sunny southern CA.
I have packing peanuts lined in the bottom of the pot so even with a saucer it wouldn't help maintain moisture longer. I do use 80% moss and 20% barks around it's roots and water often.

[Roberta]

The cross is Bulb. Supat Sun Radiant. Both parents are warm growers. I would suggest not putting it outside at all, unless maybe in summer. And it doesn't want a lot of light, so if you have a good spot in the house, leave it there and don't move it around which will not help and may just confuse it. Right now, outside during the day where you live, it's chilly and dry and very bright... none of the things this hybrid wants, which would warm and damp and shady.

[RoseSD]

So lovely to have a cross name thank you!
Can you tell me how stinky the flowers will be? I hear rumors.... 😁
Since you are into species Roberta, could you tell me why my Dendrochilum banksii grew two long spikes with tiny buds all over but went dry and brown before opening? I never let it dry out!
Now with dendrobium Peng Seng that I grow indoor with bright light, it drains way too well (large barks and pearlite) so I have to spray water daily. Is it going to be a problem if I fill the pot with small bark mix with a little moss so I don't need to water it daily? It doesn't need the dry state like Catt do, right? It is gorgeous!

[Roberta]

That Bulbo is probably not stinky... other similar looking Cirrhopetalum types don't smell. A lot of Bulbos do stink (and a few smell good) but there are plenty with no fragrance (at least to human noses) at all.
What were your conditions for the Dendrochilum? They do like to be damp. This particular one is a warm grower (low light). (There are plenty of cooler-growing Dendrochilums but this isn't one of them)

Den Peng Seng is indeed one that does not need a dry rest. It needs warmth. If it is drying out too fast, a more moisture-retentive mix would be helpful, but it does need to dry out a bit between waterings. I have not had success with either of its parents, but I also don't grow much in the way of warm-growing Dens.

[RoseSD]

Dendrochilum was hanged inside a window that only let's in sun early morning. It is kept pretty warm and in a 4" basket in moss.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by RoseSD

Dendrochilum was hanged inside a window that only let's in sun early morning. It is kept pretty warm and in a 4" basket in moss.

Hard to say... just keep it happy and it likely will bloom next year. Sometimes a young plant just doesn't make its first blooming. If only 2 spikes, it's a baby.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Swap the peanuts out and replace with a mix of huge perlite (#4) and lava rock and then put your mix on top. Use a basket or shallow bulb pan and a saucer and that baby will take off!

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

Swap the peanuts out and replace with a mix of huge perlite (#4) and lava rock and then put your mix on top. Use a basket or shallow bulb pan and a saucer and that baby will take off!

Assuming for the Bulbo... somehow a small Dendrochilum snuck in there, different game.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Oh yeah. My bad. I am only talking about the big bulbo. I missed the thread meandering into the dendrobium area