Dendrobium aphyllum - when to stop watering?

[greenochre]

Hi, I'm an orchid newbie and this is my first Dendrobium.
I live in Barcelona, so I have high humidity, and the temperature inside in winter is about 21-23 Celsius during the day and about 15 Celsius at night.

I read that Dendrobium aphyllum has a dormant winter period which is necessary for it to flower in spring. But I'm a bit confused, because some sources say I should wait until it start dropping leaves, and then reduce or even eliminate watering until the new growth appears, and others say that I should reduce watering in December, and after reducing watering it will start dropping leaves.

So, what should be first? Should I reduce now or wait for the leaves to drop? It's growing a new leaf and some roots currently

[Roberta]

There is so much in the literature about "dry rest". I am glad that my plants can't read... I grow mine outside. It will drop some or most of its leaves as the nights get chilly (4 deg C/40 deg F). It gets watered along with everything else, too hard to separate out he "winter rest" plants from the others. Rain is infrequent and irregular, so I water about every 2 days for 2 minutes (overhead sprinklers) It blooms anyway. I am firmly convinced that the cold is more important than "dry" to start the blooming process in spring. Maybe keeping it drier ( NOT completely dry) will do the same. But I learned, the hard way (killed some plants) that "dry" where I live is too dry. You have more humidity, maybe you can make that regimen work for you. But if you can get that night temperature lower, you don't have to worry about the "dry" part. If it is growing, keep watering. (But no fertilizer until spring)

[Keysguy]

I wouldn't completely cut off water either but I would withhold fertilizer until new growth starts in spring.

[estación seca]

¡Bienvenido al Orchid Board!

This one is Dendrobium section Dendrobium. They are often referred to as "nobile" type Dens. from the species Den. nobile, in this group.

For Den. aphyllum, cool night temperatures and withholding fertilizer are important for flowering. Water is less available in habitat in the winter but is not completely absent. Cool nights means 13C / 55 F or below for 6 weeks. If your winter nights are not below 0 C / freezing, the easiest way to flower it would be to put it outside for the winter, and not worry about rain. If it is possible you will have 0C, bring it in that night.

[greenochre]

Roberta, Estación seca, thank you!

Temperature at night is almost never lower than 6C, so I brought it outside, we'll see how it goes.
But it's an open balcony, so even if it rains (this year Catalonia faces one of the worst droughts ever recorded), it won't catch any water, so, I guess, I still need to water it, say, once a week?

[estación seca]

I would water lightly so the stems don't shrivel. Maybe every 2-4 weeks depending on how the plant looks.