How to ID evergreen and deciduous dendrobiums?

[Dante1709]

I've been wanting to get some more orchids and expand my collection, and I'm curious about dendrobiums. I don't have much control over the temperature in my house and I'm not quite sure how I would be able to allow dendrobiums to go dormant.

I know a not-so-local greenhouse that has a variety of orchids and I was wondering if there was any way to distinguish evergreen and deciduous orchids. What do the leaves, PBs, roots and flowers look like? What are the most common dendrobiums sold?

[WhiteRabbit]

The most commonly sold Dens at stores and retail nurseries are Den-phal types (non-deciduous), and nobile types (deciduous and requiring a winter rest and cooler temps during that period).

Den-phals spike from the top, or near the top, of the cane. Longer spikes, with usually several to many flowers that can somewhat resemble Phal blooms.

Nobile types spike from nodes all along the length of the canes, short spikes, usually 1-4 flowers per spike.

[RosieC]

Sonya is right, these are the most common ones in stores.

To help see the difference here is a quick snap of a Den Phalanthe type (often know as Den Phal) I have in bloom at the moment. These are the non-deciduous ones and I keep these in the house year round.



The second pic is an old picture I have of a nobile type. I keep these in my cool greenhouse over the winter.



I should say both of these pictures are the blooms the plants came with, so I can't take credit for them. The nobile I've never got to bloom that well again, but it's the best picture to show the difference in the way they flower.

There are other types that are also deciduous which flower along the stem like the nobile ones, so how they flower is probably a good general rule, at least with the ones you are likely to see in your local shops.

[MattWoelfsen]

I suggest you go to the Dendrobium Alliance sub-forum. There is a sticky in that forum that contains two PDF files on all the various Dendrobium types--which White Rabbit and RosieC have commented above. Dendrobium have such a large variety of structure and presentation that I am sure you'll find one that fits in your environment.

[Dante1709]

Originally Posted by RosieC

Sonya is right, these are the most common ones in stores.

To help see the difference here is a quick snap of a Den Phalanthe type (often know as Den Phal) I have in bloom at the moment. These are the non-deciduous ones and I keep these in the house year round.

Attachment 99380

The second pic is an old picture I have of a nobile type. I keep these in my cool greenhouse over the winter.

Attachment 99379

I should say both of these pictures are the blooms the plants came with, so I can't take credit for them. The nobile I've never got to bloom that well again, but it's the best picture to show the difference in the way they flower.

There are other types that are also deciduous which flower along the stem like the nobile ones, so how they flower is probably a good general rule, at least with the ones you are likely to see in your local shops.

Your plants are gorgeous! Thanks everyone for answering. I think I'll check out the Dendrobium alliance forum like Matt said.