dendrobium nobile dropping leaves + new shoot growth?

[NYCorchidman]

Misting is just a supplementary to regular watering.
It may not be done and plants may be perfectly fine, but I mist all my other orchids on the top roots that are exposed above the potting mix. This way, I can avoid overwatering.

Misting lightly is recommended when dendrobium nobile hybrids are kept really really cold, like close to freezing. At this low temperature, wet mix may damage the plant roots.
Shrivelling usually occur on all of the canes when severe underwatering is the case. When soaked, the newer canes may plump back but not the old ones.
I water my nobiles so that all the canes are plump. Some really old ones may slightly wrinkle but not much.

How cold is your growing area for your nobile plants??

I now grow mine along the window sill. The flowering is no where as wonderful as it used to be when I wintered them at a friend's unheated sun room.

In that sun room, day time temperature will go up quite high on sunny days even when it was freezing outside as the area was enclosed.
The night time will go down to about 10 to 5 C.

Because plants dry out fast with warm and dry days throughout winter, I watered them about once a week. I soaked them good five minutes and drained completely. I did this before noon on sunny days to avoid any cold damage at night.

Remember that slight shriveling is ok, but when it is too much, it will negatively affect flowering.

One thing that helps reduce water loss when you grow them too cold and worry that watering may hurt them is that you can rip the leaves off.
But usually nobiles will naturally drop leaves when subjected to cold weather.

I don't like leaves getting in the way flowers, so I remove them if they do not come off on their own in the fall.

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[Vanda lover]

This is helpful information. It is a little late now, but next year I will leave mine out in our little greenhouse much longer. In our climate I should be able to leave it out for a good part of the winter, though the greenhouse does not seal well. I'll have to watch the night temps.

[NYCorchidman]

You are in Vancouver, BC. Does it every freeze there? I thought it gets cold but not feezing cold?

The only enemy will be the rainy days in the winter I think?

Nobiles flower the best when subject to full sun, especially during the winter rest.

[Vanda lover]

We get a few nights now and then when it goes below freezing, usually a few times a winter. we are supposed to get a hard frost tonight. it has been snowing a little on the mountain tops but down here in the Alberni valley it usually rains instead. If it does snow it doesn't stay long. It varies quite a lot all over the island. It rarely goes below -11 c.

[NYCorchidman]

Wow~ I didn't know it goes down that low there!
Well, it's great that you have a greenhouse so you can keep plants from wet and cold.

[Vanda lover]

It's a tiny greenhouse, but it is handy for protecting them. It is a little warmer on the southern part of the island. The Annas hummingbirds actually winter here, flying from island to island.

[djuna]

NYCorchidman, you've just put in a critical piece of the puzzle for me as far as misting goes. Thanks.

Where i am keeping the plant, nights this past week have been approaching 10C. In the daytime as the sun hardly grazes the horizon now i have had to use grow lights, at which time the "day" temperature is 18-19C. It would have been ideal to leave the plant outside in autumn to cool down with the season but the autumn was worryingly chaotic with some nights dipping below 0C. i am sure it will be a wholly new exciting experiment to work this out next year.

i append below a detailed description of winter rest for Dendrobium Nobile from orchidculture.com: "In the habitat, rainfall averages are very low for 4-5 months in winter, but during the early part of the season the high relative humidity indicates that additional moisture is available from frequent fog, mist and heavy deposits of dew. Growers sometimes recommend eliminating water in winter, but plants are healthiest if for most of the winter they are allowed to become somewhat dry between waterings but do not remain dry for extended periods. For 1-2 months in late winter, however, conditions are clear, warm, and dry with humidity so low that even the moisture from morning dew is uncommon. Plants should be allowed to dry out completely between waterings and remain dry longer during this time. Occasional early morning mistings between waterings may help keep the plants from becoming too dry."

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[NYCorchidman]

My pleasure!

Well, many people wronly understand rest as being bone dry, which is not good.

I wish you all the best!

Be sure to post pictures of the flowers when you have them. I'm curious, but given the temperature you provide, it's almost perfect condition!
I would say the only thing missing is the enough sun I guess, but we'll see how it all turns out in the near future!

My nobiles are all budding now, which is way too early and has never happened before. crazy plants! lol

[Orchid_Man]

I have a dendrobium nobile which as started to push out 2 new blooms on top of an old cane! I have never seen this. Can anyone enlighten me? It also grew 2 new canes over the summer. Nice and healthy I might add. I quit fertilizing around Halloween and cut the water way back.

Thanks!

[vjo]

I have several nobiles,one is really big and this year it has a few buds forming on old canes. I have heard that they can bloom on any of the places that used to have leaves that haven't bloomed previously. It looks as if it has about 40 spikes on it. I don't know if they are called spikes tho as the buds really just sort of come right out of the canes. It sounds like yours is coming along fine. If you have room in your refrigerator you can just pop it in there at night. I have done that with some that need to be cool at night...Jean