Den. orchid haul and potting/mount suggestions

[SpclK]

We had a silent auction at our society's meeting last night (Wed. night) and I won a small Den. amethystoglossum. I later won a small Den. Lee Chang Yi Miriam (Den. secundum x Den. smilliae) during the raffle; the Den. was placed there due to no one bidding on it during the silent auction. These two dens came from Thailand from one of our vendors from our show a month ago, so they're still in a thin flimsy plastic pot with sphagnum moss.

I took a look on orchidspecies.com to get more info on the amethystoglossum and the parents of the Den. Lee Chang Yi Miriam. Oy, the amethystoglossum eventually will get pretty big, and I suspect the Den. Lee Chang Yi Miriam will, too. I'm trying to figure out if I should pot or mount the both orchids. I read the parent, Den. secundum is best mounted, but what about the Den. smilliae? The Den. amethystoglossum and the Den. Lee Chang Yi Miriam would do best in a window facing what direction? East, Northeast, or Southeast? Can someone please advise me on what to do? I'd appreciate it, and thank you in advance.

My conditions: Winter (in my house) day 68°F 40-55% humidity and night 65°F 40-55% and Summer (in the enclosed, screened-in porch) night +/- 55°F and day +/- 60-90°F +/- 55% (estimated humidity). I normally have my dendrobiums in the enclosed screened-in porch during spring, summer, and autumn which faces NNE and ENE.

[camille1585]

I'm bumping your thread so people will see it and hopefully you'll get some replies this time!

[SpclK]

Originally Posted by camille1585

I'm bumping your thread so people will see it and hopefully you'll get some replies this time!

Thanks, camile1585, for the bump. I really could use some guidance, as I'm trying to branch out in caring for dendrobiums.

The vendor potted these two dendrobiums in sphagnum moss to get them from Taiwan to our show and are still in s.m. which I know isn't good for them. I haven't had the time to make more dendrobium mix and repot them; other things have taken precedence. I don't want them dying on me and G-d forbid they will.

[camille1585]

Let's see if I can help you out a bit. I found some culture information for Den secundum, Den smilliae and related species here:

How We Grow Dendrobiums, Part 4 – RF Orchids

They do well potted, mounted or in baskets, with people opting to mount due to their size. So how you pot your Lee Chang Yi Miriam will be a matter of preference, how much experience you have with mounts, and how suitable your environment is for mounts. There is temperature and light guidance in the article, which should be useful to you. Basically it needs to be grown warm/hot and in bright but filtered light conditions. You might struggle a bit to keep this one happy in the winter, temperature wise.

As to Den amethystoglossum, it seems like it will like rather different temperature: not too warm and good in cool weather in the winter. Light should be diffused, so your porch sounds like a good place for it.
At the very end of this thread is the Bakers' culture sheet from Orchidwiz: Dendrobium amethystoglossum


I hope this helps you a bit, though it would be nice if some people with first hand experience with these could give advice! Though it seems that not many people grow these, there's not much mention of them in the forums and questions about them go frequently unanswered