Longest blooming orchids?

[Joseia]

If you want free flowering orchids with long lasting blooms, you can't go wrong with the Latouria Dendrobiums. I have an entire tank full of these and there is always something in bloom. Right now I have a Den Microchip, Little Andree and Proud Appeal 'Ace' in bloom right now. The flowers easily last 2-3 months, some last longer. My Proud Appeal spends most of the year in bloom or in spike, I love that one! I bought my Den Microchip last September from Hausermann's and it has already bloomed twice since it arrived 9 months ago. Den Little Andree arrived in early April from H&R and it was just packed with blooms and unopened buds. A new spike started in mid-May and it already has 6 flowers open, so this one has been in bloom for a while. The blooms survived and new spikes formed even after reporting and dividing, seems like an easy plant to take care of.

[theloyalplum]

Originally Posted by Joseia

If you want free flowering orchids with long lasting blooms, you can't go wrong with the Latouria Dendrobiums. I have an entire tank full of these and there is always something in bloom. Right now I have a Den Microchip, Little Andree and Proud Appeal 'Ace' in bloom right now. The flowers easily last 2-3 months, some last longer. My Proud Appeal spends most of the year in bloom or in spike, I love that one! I bought my Den Microchip last September from Hausermann's and it has already bloomed twice since it arrived 9 months ago. Den Little Andree arrived in early April from H&R and it was just packed with blooms and unopened buds. A new spike started in mid-May and it already has 6 flowers open, so this one has been in bloom for a while. The blooms survived and new spikes formed even after reporting and dividing, seems like an easy plant to take care of.

Any suggestions on Latouria care? I have one that has a couple 18 inch growths that's never bloomed, but has 3 new growths coming in. I don't mind the new growth, but just curious if I'm keeping culture right.

[Joseia]

Originally Posted by theloyalplum

Any suggestions on Latouria care? I have one that has a couple 18 inch growths that's never bloomed, but has 3 new growths coming in. I don't mind the new growth, but just curious if I'm keeping culture right.

I don't know if my care works for everyone (doubt it!) but this is how I grow my Latourias.

I live in a small condo with lousy windows, so I grow everything under artificial lighting. My Latourias are in an Exo Terra terrarium with a glass top instead of the usual wire mesh. Daylight temps in that tank average about 84F during the day and down to about 73F at night. I keep the humidity between 75-80% and have a pc fan inside the box generating a lot of air flow - all the leaves in the tank move slightly with the breeze. I do not let the Dendrobiums dry completely between watering and usually water them every three days. If I wait till day four, they are bone dry. They get a lot of bright light, except for Den aberrans, which seems to like less light. My light meter shows them getting about 800-900 foot candles, the lighting source is a Metal Halide lamp and it is on about 13.5 hours a days.

I use R/O water and fertilize every other watering with K-Lite, a little bit less than 1/4 teaspoon per gallon and once a month give them a dose of KelpMax. They get a good flushing once a month. They are all potted in bark/charcoal, but I did mix in a little sphagnum moss in the pot with my Den aberrans since it seems to like it more moist than the others. They are in plastic pots with a lot of ventilation slits cut into the sides. They grow like weeds in that tank. My Den Microchip has put out 11 new canes since I got it 9 months ago and has already bloomed twice.

The Latourias are definitely my favorite orchids right now; easy to grow, free flowering and can rebloom from old canes - the perfect orchid IMO.