Den. kingianum advice

[SaraJean]

This will be my fourth attempt at this ‘indestructible’, ‘easy’, ‘great for beginners’ orchid
This is how I plan on growing it, please let me know if I am missing something or should change something.

For now, I’m going to move this to a clay pot (when I see some root growth) and keep this in medium orchiata bark and see how it goes. My other three that died were in leca and I don’t think they got enough water in the growing season (though the rest of dendrobiums are grown almost exclusively in Leca and/or lava rock and those do well...) It will be grown outdoors exclusively for this next year. I do get at least a full month of nighttime temps below 55F, so a cool down period should not be a problem. I double checked this with Fred Clarke when I was emailing him about the kingianum and Delicatum before I purchased those two.
I was going to water it maybe once a month, lightly, with pure r/o or rain water while it is still resting. Our humidity is very high so I might not need to do this, I’ll keep an eye out for shriveling. Once I start seeing some growth and it warms up, I will be trying to keep it a little more on the slightly damp side, letting it barely dry out between waterings. I plan on fertilizering it like I do everyone else, lightly, with every watering, and flushing the pot once a month.
I’m going to put this in very high light right now in the winter. Since I’m not so worried about low temps, it will go up on the balcony and receive about 5 hours of direct sunlight a day. I will watch for any signs of burning. Once it warms up and the days get longer, I’ll have better light in my courtyard and will move it under a 50% shade cloth but I will place it so that it will still get a few hours of direct, unfiltered sun. Again, I’ll watch for any signs of burning

For the next resting period: Ill start backing off on water and fertilizer as the summer growth matures. I’ll increase the light again. I will cut out fertilizer again by October of next year and stop watering by the end of the month.


It’s a long post but I am determined to be able to grow one of these
Any help is appreciated

[WhiteRabbit]

Mine doesn't get a 'rest' period - it has generally already initiated spikes in the autumn, and generally blooms profusely March - April. It also usually gets a few (very few) spikes again after the initial bloom (blooming in summer). Since it is grown outdoors, and winter temps / weather are cooler and damper than summer, I do water less in winter, and allow it to become slightly dry between waterings, but still usually water about once a week (tho it's potted in a perlite / pumice mix) - and since it's growing spikes, it does also get fertilized, tho I've not been real good about fertilizing over-all the last couple of years ...

Post of mine from nearly 3 years ago now, but I haven't photographed the past couple of years ...
Dendrobium kingianum exploding with blooms

[estación seca]

I think these need A LOT more water than other people seem to think. I live in a warm area. I no longer let mine get anywhere near dry at any time of the year or mine suffer, especially in summer. I would suggest your previous plants didn't get enough water in LECA unless you watered every day. I have a large grower, 'Roy Gill', and it's in something finer than fine bark, in a clay pot. I have to water heavily almost every day in summer.

I also think you won't be able to give it as much light as you're intending. You're even closer to the equator than I. Mine won't tolerate a full day of sun outside in midwinter without leaf burn.

[Roberta]

Mine get watered all year - I cut everything back in the winter because with cooler temperatures and low sun angle they don't dry out as fast, but they stay damp. For light, I'd call what they get "bright shade" or "filtered sun" . But then, my yard runs east-west so especially in summer even the Cyms need some shade. I don't make seasonal adjustments in light, Mother Nature takes care of it (axial tilt and all that)

[SaraJean]

Now I am beginning to understand that underwatering has been 100% of the problem.
I just had a bit of a lightbulb moment after reading these posts above.

It had always baffled me why all of my other dendrobiums (even the more thirsty ones) do so well potted in inorganic media but the kingianum did not. I forgot that this was one of the first orchids that I tried in straight leca beads and I really didn’t know how to water inorganic media properly. I used a little 2 gallon pump sprayer and I would just spray the top of the media until water ran out the bottom. It also did not help that I have always grown this species under my balcony overhang, so they never got the benefit of the frequent rainstorms that about 99% of my other orchids get. Now I use a watering can and pour water over my ones in leca and lava rock for several passes so I can really saturate the whole pot, but the kingianums still stayed under the balcony. So the kingianums never really got the same frequency or volume of water as every one else and I fully admit to letting them go dry for a couple of days simply because they were not with the rest of my collection. I’m assuming this is why my new growth would either shrivel up or just be so weak that it wouldn’t last through the winter.

Ok, so way more water and don’t worry so much about the resting period (other than temps) or about the high light. Everything I had read mentioned that water in the winter would produce keikis instead of blooms but, clearly, what I have been doing has not been working. Got it and thank you!

P.S. Sonya, that orchid is beautiful!!