Dendrobium kingianum on sandstone

[naitsabeS]

Hello!

Is somebody able to tell me, if Den. kingianum and santstone fits together???

I have enough sandstone at home, and this Den. grows, as far as I know in Austtralia on rocks?

Could somebody help me, please?

Greets Sebastian

[unhappykat]

What kind of stone do you have, are they large sheets or do you have actual boulders and pieces for mounting.

[naitsabeS]

I have pieces for mounting, 10x20x30cm, and I have little pieces of sandstone they are as big as golf balls

[epiphyte78]

Here's a link that might be of some interest...

Orchids on sandstone

[Ray]

Seems to me that any relatively inert substrate is fine - as long as you can water it adequately.

[Undergrounder]

epiphyte's link is great.

I have Den kingianum and Den speciosum growing in my backyard on a sandstone cliff... The specs have been there for about 8 years, and are thriving, the kingis i put in last year and have taken a little time to adjust, losing leaves in the process, but are now starting to come back.

Do a google IMAGE search for "dendrobium speciosum cliff", the 8th and 9th photos are the specs and the 11th photo shows the kingis in the bottom left corner.

Just make sure to do it at the start of the growing season (Spring), get something to anchor the orchid securely to the rock and wait for the new roots to snake out and grab hold, maybe keep it in a protected spot while the new roots are forming. Then a year or two later once the new roots have firmly grabbed the rock, snip off the dried old roots to clean it up a bit.