question about Ecuagenera and ordering from other country.

[estación seca]

Many Den. spectabile strains need to be very large before flowering, like almost a meter tall. I wouldn't give up yet.

[Keysguy]

I ordered a Dendrobium Spectabile from their US location. I got a fairly good sized specimen (it also had a small seedling in the pot), but it looked terrible. It had black spots all over the leaves and some of the canes. I thought for sure it was diseased. I tested it and it came back virus free.

It has grown well, but I still haven’t had any luck getting it to bloom even though it is blooming size.

If you think it's blooming size cease water and especially fertilizer now. Keep it in bright light. If your humidity is not great where you are at this time of year you can give it a quick spritz of water maybe every other week but not more often. Just enough to give it a little humidity kick, don't soak it.

You should start to see nodes on the canes before the end of January and you'll be off and running. My guess is yours will flower in March. Don't resume water or fertilizer until you see new growth then pump it to it all spring into mid fall. If you lose leaves don't worry about it. It will likely still bloom off of bare canes for several years if the plant is otherwise growing and happy.

[Jinh]

Thanks for the advice, I didn’t realize they needed a dry winter rest, I’ll give it a go.

Originally Posted by Keysguy

If you think it's blooming size cease water and especially fertilizer now. Keep it in bright light. If your humidity is not great where you are at this time of year you can give it a quick spritz of water maybe every other week but not more often. Just enough to give it a little humidity kick, don't soak it.

You should start to see nodes on the canes before the end of January and you'll be off and running. My guess is yours will flower in March. Don't resume water or fertilizer until you see new growth then pump it to it all spring into mid fall. If you lose leaves don't worry about it. It will likely still bloom off of bare canes for several years if the plant is otherwise growing and happy.

---------- Post added at 09:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:33 PM ----------

I see. It’s not quite that tall, but at least a good foot or so.

Originally Posted by estación seca

Many Den. spectabile strains need to be very large before flowering, like almost a meter tall. I wouldn't give up yet.

[Roberta]

I'm also surprised at the advice for dry winter rest, too. I took a look at the Baker Culture Sheet for the species, and it advises growing conditions all year just cutting back water a little if it is in dark northern climate. It's native to New Guinea, low elevation so I would expect it to get rain in all seasons. Seems reasonable for a tropical Dendrobium to not want to dry out. It does want to stay warm. (That's why i don't grow it... no GH space for warm-growing large plants and this can get very large)

[Jinh]

I’d also read they can be acclimated to full sun, but that didn’t work well for me. I’ve come to learn when things say “full sun”, they don’t usually mean full Texas sun.

So at this point, I’ll just keep trying different things until something works I guess.

Originally Posted by Roberta

I'm also surprised at the advice for dry winter rest, too. I took a look at the Baker Culture Sheet for the species, and it advises growing conditions all year just cutting back water a little if it is in dark northern climate. It's native to New Guinea, low elevation so I would expect it to get rain in all seasons. Seems reasonable for a tropical Dendrobium to not want to dry out. It does want to stay warm. (That's why i don't grow it... no GH space for warm-growing large plants and this can get very large)

[Roberta]

I have also found that "full sun" isn't "my full sun". In nature, they may grow exposed, but there is lots of cloud cover since it rains a lot there. Where I live, " full sun" means 12-13 hours of it with no shading and no clouds. It took a visit to Andy's Orchids to make sense of "FS" on labels... in my yard, the orchid area has no shading except for light (40%) shade cloth. Andy's nursery has lots of large trees... there is no part of the nursery that gets unfiltered sun for more than a few hours - even the L. anceps area . Sun duration is also a factor. The climate at my house and at the nursery are almost identical, but there are subtle differences like trees that no documentation is going to capture. There will always be a "trial and error" component, part of the adventure of orchid-growing.

[Keysguy]

Bright light is not full sun.

The thing about water for me was not to soak it although I admit we do get an occasional shower but it is significantly drier here in the winter. Mine never bloomed great until I cut out giving it water other than what amounts to maybe a monthly natural quick shower that we might get.

[Jinh]

This came specifically from Travaldo’s blog about D. spectabile care “Light:

Dendrobium spectabile needs a light level of 25000-35000 lux. These plants grow well in partial shade but they should gradually be acclimated to full sun. Always ensure strong air movement.”

I have seen numerous sources, this one specifically use the verbiage “full sun” not “bright light”. As Roberta stated, it has become clear to me full sun is very different in different locales.

I will definitely try a drier winter like you advise, though.

Originally Posted by Keysguy

Bright light is not full sun.

The thing about water for me was not to soak it although I admit we do get an occasional shower but it is significantly drier here in the winter. Mine never bloomed great until I cut out giving it water other than what amounts to maybe a monthly natural quick shower that we might get.