New to Dendrobium growing - are these flower buds?

[orchidman77]

Hedge, the photo and plant are beautiful! Thanks for posting. I hope mine looks that healthy in a few weeks

David

[Hedge]

Originally Posted by Blueszz

Hedge, it's not the same plant as far as I can see but your Den. reminds me on a Yamamoto Dendrobium Nobile hybrid I have. The flowers on mine or double the size and the leafs seam to be broader... The flowers are rounder too... but center of the blooms and the top petal (or is that a sepal?) look very much alike... as the shape of canes...


Great this one bloomed for you. Are you any closer to an ID or is it still very NoID for you?

Nicole

Yes, it's still a NoID ( and I expect it will remain so as it was purchased in a Marks and Spencer - do you have them in the States? They sell clothing, food and lately home wares and furnishing and quality plants - although of the purely ornamental type. You pay a fortune for a quite ordinary house plant which was probably grown well in a Dutch greenhouse, and a very nice cachepot of a stylish and fashionable type - do you get my drift?)

Thanks for all the help and encouragement everyone. I'll see if I can keep it alive

[shadytrake]

Hedge,

The blooms look very nice! Yay! I like that color. I don't have a blooming white one yet...but I do have a keiki of anosmum var alba.

I'm thumbing through my Den species book to see if I can guess at a similar parentage for your Den.

I suspect in my amateur opinion, that yours has Den amoenum or signatum in it's ancestry. You mentioned that yours doesn't look as strong as David's and that may be the reason why. In the section of Dendrobium, amoenum grows upright and then the canes become pendulous in habit. I do see yours slightly hanging over and that could be the reason.

IOSPE PHOTOS

IOSPE PHOTOS

Of course, yours has probably been hybridized over and over so the original species is/are really washed out, however I would make a guess that yours is a "winter rest" Den Hybrid (aka Den Hedge)

My other reasoning is that the other section Den Formosae (that I thought it might be) really isn't because all of those species have fine hairs on the leaf sheaths. Those hairs are part of a frost protection system that some orchids have. I don't see any pronounced hairs on your leaves so I ruled out this section.

So if it were mine, I would treat it as a "winter rest" hybrid. Happy blooming!

[Hedge]

Thanks for all the hard study, Melissa, but the reason mine is leaning to one side is cos it has very little root and keeps threatening to fall out of its pot.

Please don't feel you have to sweat this one - it's probably not long for this world as it has so little root. It definitely responded to a winter rest (see above) and the colour distribution of the green on the white is very similar to Den amoenum but the flowers remind me in overall shape of Den biggibum (is that right - looks wrong now I've typed it).

I am trying to track down hydroton on this side of the pond but its all in huge sacks that cost more to have delivered than they do. I feel a trip to a nursery coming on........

[orchidman77]

As promised, here are the pictures of my Dendrobium Yellow Song 'Canary.' It FINALLY bloomed....the wait was almost unbearable

Hedge, are you flowers still open?

David

[Hedge]

It's gorgeous, David - congratulations!! My last two flowers are hanging on and there is the beginning of a new cane forming at the base so I must be doing something right in my attempt at S/H. I'll post photos when it's a bit larger as you would struggle to see it at the moment.

Great growing

Heather

[orchidman77]

Heather, I can't wait to see it! I'm glad you got to save it.

The flowers have since deepened in color. I thought I couldn't say this but it is even more beautiful than before! I'll post pics of this one in a few days. It is the most saturated golden yellow i believe i've ever seen, probably because it's not in a picture.

David

[Hedge]

the good news is that it has taken to my home made version of S/H like a duck to water and grown two new canes. However it still has balance issues despite quite a lot of new root growth, with the whole thing toppling over regularly, although growing madly!

I wondered whether I could remove one or all three of the older canes and concentrate on getting a really good new plant based on the new growth. Or is the plantstill likely to be deriving strength from the older canes? Also will the older canes flower again next autumn? One old cane is completely denuded of leaves and has been since I was given the plant although it has the best girth and height.

Any Den growers advice gratefully received

[Izzie]

The canes act as an energy reserve until they turn brown, so I'd leave them.
Grats on the success!

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by Hedge

the good news is that it has taken to my home made version of S/H like a duck to water and grown two new canes. However it still has balance issues despite quite a lot of new root growth, with the whole thing toppling over regularly, although growing madly!

I wondered whether I could remove one or all three of the older canes and concentrate on getting a really good new plant based on the new growth. Or is the plantstill likely to be deriving strength from the older canes? Also will the older canes flower again next autumn? One old cane is completely denuded of leaves and has been since I was given the plant although it has the best girth and height.

Any Den growers advice gratefully received

Hedge,

Great save!

I grow the phal type dens, but all hard cane dendrobiums seem to have issues with toppling over. I've lost many a cane and spike due to toppled plants.

Have you tried seating your potted plant into another larger vessel or basket? You could fill in the air space with anything from styro peanuts, to CH fiber, to pebbles.

Older canes shouldn't be removed until they're completed shriveled and yellow.