Fast Spreading Orchids

[Fairorchids]

Most intergeneric Oncidium & Brassia hybrids grow like weeds, provided that they are kept moist. I recently divided a Brassia Rex, which had been in an 8" pot for about 2 years. It produced 13 divisions, all BS with two bulbs.

[Havoccity]

Ditto on the Brassia. My gireoudiana went from 4 pseudobulbs to 10 in a year. Also yeah it loves being kept super wet and eats a lot of fertilizer. Likes bright light. It also isn't fussy with humidity unlike my Onc sotoanum which gets stuck leaves when the humidity isn't high enough.

My fastest growing plant is Dendrobium kingianum, which is constantly making new growths. It's also unkillable since it's very cold, drought, and sun tolerant. Grows faster for me when kept wet. I think Den speciosum grows similarly fast but I haven't gotten one because of how big it gets.

[Roberta]

Den. speciosum is actually pretty slow, especially the larger types (like grandiflorum and hillii). But they have to get big before they bloom. So one can wait 10 years or more for a seedling to get big enough to bloom - by which time it is quite large. Not a good species to grow if you have limited space. Lots of hybrids with speciosum that make lots of flowers without taking over the growing area.

I'm reminded of the first time I went to the Santa Barbara show, early in my "orchid career" after attending another show where I had bought a fairly small Den speciosum. The centerpiece of the SB show was a Den. speciosum var. hillii that was about 3 m (9 feet) across, with about 400 spikes. My reaction was "OMG, I just bought a St. Bernard puppy! I live in a condo!!" It turned out not to be a problem, the plant grew slowly and I didn't grow it all that well, by the time that it was big enough to bloom I had sold the condo and bought a house with a yard. But think of the possibilities.