Juvenile Dendrobium speciosum care

[Zdenglan]

Hi everybody,

I have recently acquired a very young D. speciosum (healthy plant with two leads) in a tiny 2 inch pot. I keep it in a glasshouse with current min. around 10C and maximums around 15C. According to my culture sheet D. spec. shouldn't be allowed to dry out for extensive periods of time although watering should be reduced during winter months. This is my first very young orchid plant and I am naturally worried that I could kill it either by too much or too little care. I've found out that it tends to dry out rather rapidly - approx. within a day. Can anyone please advise as to the propper care of this baby? I'd be grateful for any pointers you can throw at me. Thank you everybody!
Zdenglan

[Fiona]

I have two D. speciosum. The one is in a hanging clay pot in my shade house, the other I mounted in a fork in a tree in the garden. Our winter min, in the shade house, as well as the garden is 2 - 3C, winter max 12 - 18C. Summer temps are min 15 - 20C max 24 - 37C. I try to keep shade house down to max 31, it takes a lot of PT sometimes! I use the bamboo stick method to see when it needs watering. In the summer it gets water every 5 - 7 days, depending on the humidity and in the winter every 7 - 10 days. It needs air movement. The one gets morning sun and the one in the tree afternoon sun. They are both growing very well, the one in the tree exceptionally well. My friend has one in a tree in her garden which has sprays and sprays of flowers!

[long_nguyen]

I really love this kind of Dend but juz wondering could it grow and flowering in tropical contries like Vietnam which hot all year with 24-33C. hope you guys give me some experience how to grow and flower it? thank you

[josh91793]

Zdenglan,
I have a very small juvenile den. Speciosum also. it is also in a two inch plastic pot. The mix it is in is a mixture of bark, Lava rock, and a few sticks. It is a very airy mixture so it dries out pretty quickly. I water mine every 3-5 days because the mixture is so airy. I keep mine over my turtle tank to keep it pretty humid. It would probably be less if the mixture is more of a mossy mixture. They are very resistent plants. I wasn't very consistent in the winter for the watering and the plant is doing just fine! They are very hardy!!!Thats my two cents! :-)

[harleymc]

Den speciosum is an orchid from areas of not terribly reliable rainfall. with very waxy thick leaves and large canes/psuedobulbs they can store a fair amount of water. In the wild mature plants can go months without significant rainfall. I wouldn't recomend such harsh treatment for a small seedling, but Josh seems to be getting a happy balance.
Now here's the bad news... Depending on the variety of D speciosum you may be waiting 10 years or more till flowering, some will flower in 6-7 years but with some of them you may need to be extremely patient.

[orchidsamore]

Seedlings should never be allowed to dry to often. Seedlings up to 4 inch pots need water and food to keep growing.

D. speciosum grows vary easily and likes moderate to cool temperatures to bloom.

It doesn't flower as easy in South Florida (Homestead) as it does just 50 miles further north (Miami to Naples).

The first really warm temperature and the flowers drop. I had a 5 foot (600 flowers) specimen drop all its flowers in a date when the temps went up to 90.

I can root cuttings from single bulbs without roots and from dried out back bulbs. It is a very strong plant..

[orchidsamore]

As to blooming, D. speciosum v gradifloria takes 15 years from seed to bloom, but the only variety I have seen in the US is D. specisous v compactum which takes only 5. Other varieties are in between in time but seldom found in the US.

A two inch pot from seed is probably 2-3 years old already.