Den's without species names?

[orchidfan]

Hi, as some of you know, I just bought a few orchids and some of them are den's. I've figured out or was told the species of most of them but I have a few that I don't know. When I asked one of the nurseries what the species were, I was told they were just "regular dendrobiums'. Anyone know what that means? (I have a Burana Green - saw the picture and now I can't wait for mine to bloom! Gorgeous picture and plant!!) The "unknowns" all have basically the same flower structure as the Burana Green - if that helps! I just thought I should know so that I would know how to take care of them?

[cb977]

To me, the answer you got implies that they are "just Dendrobium hybrids" most likely a NOID.

If it were a Dendrobium species, they probably would have been aware of it...I think

Here's some info on caring for them:
http://www.orchidboard.com/Dendrobiu...ure-Care-Sheet

[orchidfan]

Thanks. NOID = no I.D.? Part of my concern was that my identified plants are Nobile's and I wasn't sure about the drying out period being different or not. Looks like they don't require the real dry period as the Nobiles. The books I've been thru so far weren't specific about that. Thanks again.

[cneos]

Burana Green is a phalaenopsis-type dendrobium. Term phalaenopsis refers to general shape of flowers and the way the flowers are typically borne on a long, slightly arching inflorescence.

[calvin_orchidL]

Burana Green isn't the species but rather the name that has been given to this particular hybrid...simply put, species exist in nature, whereas hybrids are made from crossing species (a hybrid with 2 species as parents are known as primary hybrids), then crossing those, then crossing those and so on....so a single given hybrid may have the 'blood' of several species in it!

You can tell if your dend is a nobile type typically by where the flowers appear .... do they appear on the cane itself, or as a long spike above the cane. I'm pretty sure the popular dendrobiums in cultivation from the mass markets are either phal type or nobiles so once you've identified that, you're pretty much safe even if you don't know the exact hybrid name

[nancy]

Note that the link Susanne provided contains this tidbit "most dendrobiums do best in containers small for the size of the plant" - this was my biggest novice mistake: I was so eager and enthusiastic that I repotted too often and into too large a pot. I got nice foliage plants but didn't get real dazzling flowering until they were, literally, crawling out of those big pots.
Even without names, these plants can be really rewarding, beautiful, fragrant, endearing, etc.
Regards - Nancy

[orchidfan]

Thanks. I was beginning to think that the "regular dendrobium" answer that I received was saying that they were Phal. types. I've been out buying and reading orchid books to be sure I do the absolute best by these plants and the Phal's seemed to be the answer from what I've read so far. It's so nice to have someone experienced to validate my novice's guess. Oh, and BTW, the position of the flowers (cane vs. spike) is the first time I remember hearing that - very helpful also.