Winter resting?

[Wrebbitrocks]

As I was reading through the forums, I went through a thread about winter rest. I now know that my Dendrobium agreggatum needs a winter rest. What else needs winter rests? My collection has a load of phals which probably don't, a few catts, an ascofinetia, 2 kinds of paphs (maudiea mottled types and bulldog green leaf types), some dendros (both phal and nobile), oncidiums, epidendrums, psychopsis, an angraecum and a vanda? How exactly does this rest work? Do you just stop watering them from "halloween to valentine's" as noted with an occasional misting?

	Mistking Looking for a misting system? Look no further. Automated misting systems from MistKing are used by multitude of plant enthusiasts and are perfect for Orchids. Systems feature run dry pumps, ZipDrip valve, adjustable black nozzles, per second control! Automatically mist one growing shelf or a greenhouse full of Orchids. See MistKing testimonials

[cb977]

Here's some reading to get you started...

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...nter-rest.html

I use Halloween to Valentine's as my guideline...if something starts showing growth a week or two prior to Feb 14th, I make a judgement call

[Orchid126]

cb977's use of Halloween to Valentine's Day is spot on. Bear in mind that the dead of winter for orchids is Dec.21the shortest day of the year. Winter is approximately one month before and one month after that date. From Halloween to that date the days continue to get shorter and the light gets weaker. After that date the days start to lengthen and the light gets stronger. The orchids will respond accordingly.

So when plants are in between Halloween and the December date they are getting less light so need less water and fertilizer. Some plants like nobile dendrobiums don't want anything at all, just to be kept cold and in as sunny a spot as you have. After the December date the plants will start to pick up and probably by the end of January you'll notice tiny new growths. Then the fertilizer and water can be increased gradually.