Den. tortile

[fishmom]

This was a trade from a member of my OS. It winters outdoors, the leaves look a bit scruffy, but I love the shape and the delicate veining on the huge lip.


I'd also like to know how to get more growth going on this baby. All suggestions welcome, although I am not set up to grow it as a mount.

[Roberta]

That's a beauty! Next best thing to mounting is a basket with fairly large bark. The Baker culture sheet on the species indicates that while winters should be drier, it shouldn't be dry for long. The open mix (mounting is more open, but same idea) lets it dry out between waterings, without doing anything special. Having spend a lot of time in Andy's Orchids shade houses and seeing deciduous Dens mixed in with everything else (and therefore getting watered) and blooming nevertheless, I'm convinced that the closer you can get to a condition where it can dry out between waterings the better. However you can accomplish that to work with the rest of your conditions.

[fishmom]

Thanks, Roberta, I have it in a medium sized bark mix but I can push it up to large when I next repot. It's a good idea.