Dendrobium Upin King 'Serenade'

[Becky15349]

Oh my, how I love this dend. I just had to show you guys!! I think I'll be getting some more Dends this weekend at the Hausermann open house!!!!

This is D. Upin King 'Serenade'. I got this plant in august, put it in SH in September, and proceeded to freeze it to death on my windowsill this past winter No, I'm just kidding, it didn't really freeze...but it got DARN cold. I'm sure you guys heard all about how the midwest was in a deep freeze for weeks on end...well, I gotta tell ya, it was painful at the time, but it sure looks like the dend liked it!!! It would get down to about 47F on my windowsill, believe it or not. It has 11 blooms.

Here are some cultural tidbits:
-grown in south window
-media: hydroton
-temps: fluctuate a lot, couldn't even tell you
-watering: 1x per week in the winter, every 4th time I flush with plain water, fert all other times.
-humidity: average 50% RH

Thanks for looking!!
~Becky

[kinknstein]

She's a beauty! Good growing!!

[Blueszz]

Awesome! The colors are stunning!
What do you have on top of the LECA?

[(..._...)]

VERY nice! I have one with buds, and did the same as you (placing it near the cold window).
Is it scented?

Cam

[Becky15349]

Hey all, thanks for the nice comments!

The stuff on top of the leca is white decorator gravel...its actually an experiment LOL. In the summer, with my south windows, the sun beats down on top of the leca and really heats it up...sometimes inside the pot it gets so hot like an oven and it burns the roots...so I've been seeking ways to maybe deflect or somehow lessen the heat, and white decorator gravel is my latest attempt. I tried aluminum foil, but that looked terrible and just kept falling off. I may just starting using bark, since the gravel seems to get a little hot too, but I can't find any bark here in chicago, its driving me nuts!! HD has this junk miraacle grow mix that is super fine...ugh.

It doesn't have much of a scent, to be honest...sometimes in the morning, it smells a little medicinal...something like that.

[Blueszz]

The white gravel looks good and maybe helps to prevent evaporation? But on the other hand, evaporation lowers temps...

I found over pots (decorative pots) helpfull to control the temperature of the medium. I have several and notice a large difference in the temp. of the watery yellow decorative pots and the dark brown ones.
With the slightest sun the brown ones feel hot to the touch very fast, despite our climate. Even during the winter! I guess it would work the other way around. Maybe you should find yourself white decorative pots made of clay?

Or... buy them some wine coolers LOL, made from clay.

[WhiteRabbit]

awesome!
I wish my dens would do something lol
good growing

[camille1585]

Nice pics Becky!! I'm happy that I finally get to see it, after our many chats where it came up!

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Beautiful. Let us know if it stays short.

[Sandy4453]

I've read a lot that the nobiles in s/h, with continuous winter watering, do fantastic. Yours is no exception....it's beauitul! My Oriental Smiles is not looking all that great this year and I'm going to transfer it to s/h once it starts putting out some new growth.

Great growing!