Guttation in nobile seedling

[Aurelia]

Hi, I’d like some advice on seedling nobiles during winter. Do they need a full winter rest? I am worried there is a fair bit of guttation (“happy sap”) and I wonder if I’m giving it too much water at this time? It’s Australian winter. It’s lived outside until temps dropped to under 10deg Celsius at night and I brought it in. I’d love some advice as it’s my first nobile type orchid. ID in photos in case it’s relevant thanks in advance.

[Louis_W]

Usually the leaves start to yellow and give you the signal to lighten up on the watering. It looks like its about ready to stop getting fertilized.

The sap is usually a good sign of strong growth, and your plant does indeed look very healthy. I wouldnt worry about that.

[estación seca]

5-10C is fine for almost all these. Flowering is triggered by cool winter nights. I leave mine outside all winter, except the few nights we might have frost.

I don't stop watering in winter, but then it's cooler. They don't need to drop leaves to flower. Fertilizer should stop by late summer.

[Aurelia]

Thanks so much, that’s quite encouraging. I appreciate it.

---------- Post added at 01:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:28 PM ----------

I prefer to leave it outside. I’ll put it back and just bring in it it’s absolutely necessary. I appreciate your reply. I’be only had dens like burana jade so the nobile is new to me.

[estación seca]

There is a huge natural range for Dens. Different species occur from sea level in the hot tropics to high elevation tropical alpine zones. Different areas have different rainfall patterns. So while it's easy to predict cultivation needs for Cattleya hybrids, each Den. type is different.

[Aurelia]

Thanks so much. I feel like I’m really winging it with all my dens.
They seem ok. I find the den burana is slowly growing bigger each time. Am I meant to give that a rest too? Then this den which is tagged as “Den Sriprai” but not actually registered, I don’t really even know who is in its parentage but it’s similar to a thongchai gold so I treat it as such. Kingianum fends for itself pretty much. So with the nobile now I see the yellow leaf, I cut back or stop fertilising all together? Should I water like normal still? So sorry to bombard you with so much! I just need a definitive answer as I feel like I’m flying blind.

[Louis_W]

My take: stop fertilizong all together and cut back the water. The bulb should stay fairly plump, so if you see it starting to shrivel, you need to increase the water.

[Aurelia]

Perfect! Thank you so much.

[ArronOB]

You haven’t stated where you are in Australia so it’s a bit hard to advise. Assuming you’re on the East coast then growing outside in winter is not ideal - at least if by ‘outside’ you mean open to natural rainfall. All these nobile dendrobiums seem to need a drier and fertilizer free winter period to develop flowers (how much is open to debate). The problem is coastal NSW and VIC have highest rainfall in winter. This doesn’t stop them growing but it does stop them flowering.

Obviously the nobiles come from an environment with a wet summer and dry winter, like you’d get north of Brisbane.

I have a few nobile dens which I grow outside in a shadehouse with shadecloth roof. They grow OK but I don’t think ive ever seen them flower. Not sure why I bother with them. I gave a few to a neighbour a few years ago which she grows outside under a tree. They grow well if a bit slowly and she tells me they flowered once. So my conclusion is that in our climate you need to put them out of the rain, reduce fertilizer, or bring inside for winter.

Growing p them with other orchids (in my case Oncidiums and cattleyas) doesn’t suit at all.

[Aurelia]

Hey, sorry I forgot to add location. I’m in Melbourne. I am growing outdoors on a balcony. It’s very windy but somewhat protected.