Dendrobium kingianum winter care

[stonedragonfarms]

Greetings from further up the left coast Lil Duck [Portland here]. I grow a number of kingianum and find that there is no hard & fast rule of thumb as to how big plants need to be in order to bloom--any cane that is mature is capable of doing so; this holds whether the plant is in a 2" pot or a 12" pot. There's also tremendous variability in the size of mature kingianum canes, on some cultivars, a 4" tall cane is a giant, on others, 12"+ is the norm. Most produce their heaviest flush of blooms in late winter on throughout spring; the odd few will bloom off and on year round. I've not found mine to be too picky about winter light levels [*don't take this to mean put it in a north facing window...], restricted watering [and suspension of feeding] helps to initiate blooming, in situ, winter lows run in the low-mid 40s. For best blooms, feed plants heavily from about the end of April through to mid October, then stop feeding and decrease water--my collection is in an unheated greenhouse and gets no water from mid December-mid February. Hope this helps.

[JImG]

Originally Posted by stonedragonfarms

Greetings from further up the left coast Lil Duck [Portland here]. I grow a number of kingianum and find that there is no hard & fast rule of thumb as to how big plants need to be in order to bloom--any cane that is mature is capable of doing so; this holds whether the plant is in a 2" pot or a 12" pot. There's also tremendous variability in the size of mature kingianum canes, on some cultivars, a 4" tall cane is a giant, on others, 12"+ is the norm. Most produce their heaviest flush of blooms in late winter on throughout spring; the odd few will bloom off and on year round. I've not found mine to be too picky about winter light levels [*don't take this to mean put it in a north facing window...], restricted watering [and suspension of feeding] helps to initiate blooming, in situ, winter lows run in the low-mid 40s. For best blooms, feed plants heavily from about the end of April through to mid October, then stop feeding and decrease water--my collection is in an unheated greenhouse and gets no water from mid December-mid February. Hope this helps.

My goodness, an unheated greenhouse and it is forecast to be 32 tonight? Now, that sounds like heaven to me in CT, but to most orchids isn't that a bit low? And in Oregon, along the coast, I'd think that would mean frost, no? Well in a greenhouse no, I guess.