Self Control While Vacation Shopping
 

Well, I went down to Florida for the holidays and was very well behaved. I went to Sundance Orchids in Ft. Myers. Sadly, their main greenhouse was majorly damaged in Hurricane Ian, but they were open and had a great selection of blooming plants. I bought:

-Dendrobium Salaya Candy - if anyone knows anything about this please let me know. I couldn't find anything at all, and would like to find out some background info.

-Brassocattleya Binosa 'Key Lime'

-Brassocattleya Hippodamia

-Epidendrum (Pacific Pinwheel 'Fiesta Nights' x Pacific Prince 'Good Shot') 'Chinese Red #2' - I've never had an orchid potted in soil before, so we'll see how it goes...

-Dendrobium Sherry Abe - when I got home, I found out this is half Den. spectabile, which makes sense since I have one of those, and am now just waiting the 7 more years for it to bloom...



Also bought a Better-Gro Baggie Baby Dendrobium Green Flash at Lowe's. Could be years from blooming size, and looks like it got cold damage from the weather they'd had, but it was cheap and on my wish list, so there.

Looks like Salaya Candy has Den. phalaenopsis and spathulifera ancestors. Evenly warm and moist all year, near Cattleya light, don't let dry out while pushing new growth.

Thanks - very helpful!!

That Epi is an awesome pick! Love it. Growing in soil would make me nervous as well, and wouldn't fit in with my style of water everything at once. Let me know how it goes.

Lovely Hippodamia and others!

David

As a rule dendrobiums grow pretty fast for me. Are you not maybe exaggerating (7 years)? :) I hope you are.
But yes, I think you displayed magnificent self-control.

Reed stem Epis can grow in soil, if reasonably well drained. They're used in the landscaping at the San Diego Zoo. So you might want to change the medium to match your watering better, but it's not unreasonable.

That was for the Dendrobium spectabile I have. Not long ago someone else had one of the Better Gro Baggie Baby ones they purchased at Lowe's, and said it bloomed after 7 years. That is one I bought a year ago, so I guess I only have 6 left :)

Also, I found this on orchidsamore.com after that discussion: "It needs to be 4-5 years old to flower. At this time, they will have 4-7 canes and be about 18-24 inches high. Plants start to reach their full potential when the get to be 7-10 years old and reach 3 feet or more in height."

Gaahhh!!

---------- Post added at 02:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:21 PM ----------


I've been considering that. Obviously it is blooming now, so I'll let it be for the moment. When would be a good time to repot and do you have any suggestions for a different medium? I have been using mostly just straight orchiata. My "big" orchids (as opposed to my usual minis which are in an orchidarium) are in my new sunroom. I keep it around 70 degrees and have humidifiers that keep it around 55% humidity.

There are Dendrobiums, and then there are Dendrobiums... Yes, spectabile is one of the slow ones - and gets very big. (One of the things I don't grow because it needs to be warm and GH too small) Den. speciosum is another. 10 years from seedling to bloom is optimistic. That one I can grow outside so I have several (mature plants) When either of them get big, Oh Baby!

---------- Post added at 11:37 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 AM ----------

I find that the reedstem epis do well in small bark (like my Cymbidiums mix) Orchiata isn't necessary, they do fine in the cheap stuff. But small Orchiata will certainly work. They're not fussy. The newer (and bigger) hybrids like this one aren't as cold-tolerant as the older, more generic ones, but still are fine down to 50 deg F or xo. Don't particularly care about humidity. Nice thing about them, they bloom and bloom and bloom. (Keep popping out new flowers, for months) They do like to stay on the damp side, so no need to rush to repot.

Yes, given how many species of dendrobiums there are...I shouldn't be surprised at varying growth rates.