Very puzzling dendrobium

[Acharn]

I'm really surprised by this one. This was a gift from my niece's boyfriend's mother, and is actually two plants in one coconut shell. I could have taken them out when I got them a couple of years ago, but this is the way she grows them at home, so I just left them.

The things that puzzle me, she assured me that the flowers were yellow, and that it blooms in the cold season. Well, here we are four months past the very end of the cold season and these blooms suddenly appear. Secondly, how is it these blooms are coming from a keikei? Its roots aren't even two inches long yet, so I wouldn't dare separate it from the parent plant. One of three blossoms has already wilted and I don't suppose the remaining two are going to last long.

Sorry the picture isn't clearer and is confused by monopodial sharing the shell. The keikei with the blooms is at the end of the long cane going off to the right, the two canes going off to the left show the leaves. The cane bearing the keikei lost its leaves last year. Can anyone help me identify this?

[Ray]

I'm not a grower of dens, so cannot help with that, but the other plant looks mor
Like Brassavola nodosa than a monopodial...

[WhiteRabbit]

I can't help with ID, tho the blooms look familiar. Keikis can bloom while still very small (roots, or no) on the parent.

[jmarr]

looks like Dendrobium pulchellum

[Acharn]

Brassavola nodosa? I hadnt even thought about it. I can't see the base of the plant (maybe I should have taken them out of the coconut shell) so just assumed.

I'm sur you're right that it's a dendrobium pulchellum. I wish the other canes would flower. In fact I wish all my orchids would bloom. Don't know what the problem is, but this is the first one that's bloomed in a couple of years.

Thanks.

[CA2FLxplant]

Looks like a nobile type dendrobium. They like a dry winter rest and are supposed to lose their leaves, and then bud nubbins will form between where the leaves fell off. Rule of thumb for me to remember when to give it rest (assuming it IS nobile) is that at Thanksgiving, (End of November) we stuff ourselves and starve the plant. Sounds bad, huh!? Then, in the springtime when you see the nubbins popping out, resume normal watering. If the canes get too shriveled you can give it a little water, but be careful not to overdo it.

If it does not get the winter rest it requires, it will not flower but will shoot keikis, which is probably what happened here. Don't panic over losing leaves in winter...it's supposed to do that. Also not unusual for keiki to flower with the mother plant.

Good luck!!