Keep budding Dendrobium warm?

[petola]

Hi again!

My Dendrobiums are budding(don't know if they are flowers or keikis). I have them on the verandah and the recent temperature is around 15-19 celcius, however, it will drop to the lowest of 9 celcius in the next couple of days. So should I keep them out in the verandah or should I move them indoor? Will moving them around affect the flowering. Will that turn them into keikis? Someone please help me ? Thanks!

[gnathaniel]

Hi petola, what kind of Dendrobiums do you have? Nobile-types should be fine with the cool temps if you keep them dry and out of the wind, but some other kinds might drop their buds if the temps go too low. Either way, once buds start forming they won't change into keikis, the nodes are flexible at first but should be 'locked in' after a particular cycle is initiated.

--Nat

[petola]

Thanks Nat for the quick hep! They are Nobiles. Maybe I have mixed up the terms. They are nodes instead of buds. The beginning stage bursting out from the stem, when they are round and can't tell if they are keikis or buds? I feel a little better now. They are on the verandah so they do get some winds, maybe I should shelter them a little bit ? Also, what do you mean by "lock-in"?

Anyway, thanks so much for your help.

[gnathaniel]

Hi petola, by 'locked in' I mean that they won't change from buds to keikis or keikis to buds once they've started growing. Even if you can't tell what they are yet they're already determined. The node is the part of the stem that the buds or keikis grow from.

If your temps don't go below 9 C your plants shouldn't need too much shelter unless it gets very windy. I've let hybrids with nobile and moniliforme ancestry get down to 3-4 C with no adverse effects. Just keep them dry while it's cool and pick up the water again when it warms back up.

--Nat

[petola]

Thanks so much Nat! Much appreciated!