ORGANIZATION - HOW DO YOU DO WINTER REST?

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Thanks Bud, I do have diary, with every one of my orchids on one page,, and all they need. Most of the Dendrobiums actually say winter rest, and so does the catasetum. Even the seller of my new Dendrobium Nobile hybrids, that is actually here in Florida, advise to stop fertilizing at the end of August (that's what he does with them), and than hold water during the winter time, with some watering only when needed, till new buds appear. For anosmum, it is pretty much MUST as I did understand it, to hold water and not fertilize. I do get fertilizing part, and that is not issue, my issue is really how to do it with water, some here say water in Florida even during winter, some people and sellers from Florida say hold water as much as possible, etc, for pretty much newbie with many different dendrobiums, all of them saying on culture sheet winter rest, I am pretty confused:-(

[Leafmite]

Some dens really prefer no water at all in the winter. Den aggregatum went the entire winter here without water, never lost a leaf, and the old bulbs plumped out again to a certain degree. Den kningianum didn't even realize it wasn't getting watered. I like the orchids that rest...saves me extra work and that distilled water I have to buy when it doesn't rain or snow. Love the cattleya dowiana so far as it doesn't mind going a couple of weeks in the winter without water.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Thanks Leafmite, yes, that is what I do read, however as it was mentioned here before, you are in Ohio, zone 5b, we are in Miami, zone 11, so the question is - what to do in my zone, where there is really no true winter, and temperatures are worm to hot most of the winter, with few days drops. I hope some Floridians will join or answer my questions I started in my Florida group I am joined to, or I will just have to go with my guts on this one. It is so hard to choose what to do, because everyone is saying something totally different, and it is confusing, at least to me. However I do go this year for winter rest, because my Dendrobiums last winter only grew and stayed all green without dropping a leaf, and than they absolutely did not bloom and continue to grow crazy speed during spring and summer. So, I guess, something was wrong and in My opinion, it was my lucking on winter rest. I will do that only for Dendrobiums that say it, and Catasetum, I will only lessen water for other orchids due to colder weather, and I will hope for the best and some blooms next year:-)))))

[Leafmite]

This is a site in Hawaii! Should be helpful!

General Care

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by HighSeas

Hi everyone! Just wondering...which orchids do you provide a "winter rest" for?

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...nter-rest.html

An old thread but might be useful here.

I'm still someone who is not sure what I'm doing with winter rest, so I'm always interested to read what others do.

I was one told Haloween to Valentines was a good time for a winter rest, but more recently someone said to me they stopped fertiliser on some from August onwards. I'm trying that this year on a couple that kept growing too late into the season last year (most of the winter still growing). But still got to see how it works.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

1. I live in Southern California. The climate here is more subtropical than it would be tropical, so there is a distinct seasonal change between the warm and cool months.

Spring and summer is when the amount of sunlight we get here starts to gradually increase in the number of hours. It gradually gets warmer and warmer until late summer. The beginning of late summer is when you start to see a tapering off of temperatures, but day length is much slower to decrease.

Fall is when you get an even sharper drop off in temperatures and the length of the day starts to decrease much faster.

The beginning of winter is when the day length has shortened to what it will be for the remainder of the season. By this time, it can get pretty cold, where day temperatures can stay at 75 F - 80 F, and nights can drop down to as low as 36 F, but usually averages out to be about 45 F.

2. Most of the Dendrobiums that have these winter rest periods come from subtropical or temperate regions in their respective countries. They have distinct seasonal rain patterns. This is why you will see a lot of in-situ pics with the trees some of these types of Dendrobiums grow on having lichens grow on them rather than mosses.

(Some mosses tend to have a difficult time surviving long periods of drought - at least the vegetative parts of the nonvascular plants, not necessarily their spores. More lichen species are better adapted to seasonal droughts than mosses are.)

I really recommend checking out the Bakers' website where you can order care sheets on some of these orchids rather inexpensively. You can even check out their free sample sheets.

Orchid Culture -- Charles and Margaret Baker

3. I don't know all the Dendrobiums that need a completely dry winter rest and no fertilizer, but I do know of a few.

Dendrobium unicum doesn't have to be completely dry in the winter, but they would probably bloom better if they got it. Plus, no water during winter will not kill this orchid at all. They will look desiccated, but don't let that fool you, they are very much alive. No fertilizer necessary in winter. These are semi-deciduous during the winters. Only the old canes drop all their leaves. The new canes don't.

Dendrobium kingianum doesn't have to be grown dry in the winter, but the blooms tend to be stronger and more plentiful if you did left them to dry out during the winter. Withhold fertilizer. These stay "evergreen" even during the winter.

Dendrobium nobile has a distinct winter rest in its native habitat, but that may be due to the temperatures they experience in the wild. When giving this one a winter rest, no water is needed for 3 - 4 months. No fertilizer. These go completely deciduous in cooler climates. You can follow this guideline for both Dendrobium parishii and Dendrobium anosmum.

I don't know jack diddly about the hybrids.

I've never grown Dendrobiums in section Pedilonium before, which is the section that Dendrobium bracteosum and Dendrobium goldschmidtianum belong to, so I can't say.

---------- Post added at 07:01 AM ---------- Previous post was at 06:50 AM ----------

Dendrobium aggregatum has a winter rest. No water and no fertilizer. They will not bloom at all if you don't withhold water and fertilizer during the winter. They are "evergreen" during winter.

---------- Post added at 07:03 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:01 AM ----------

Yeah, Dendrobium heterocarpum, just follow the guideline for Dendrobium nobile. They're in the same section, (section Dendrobium).

Never grown a single Dockrilla, can't advise. Would like to one day though.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Many Thanks king, I will go and read the link. I did already research many pages and bought and read many books, my concussion comes from too much reading and asking, I assume. Every book, every article online and every member here gives different version, unfortunately. My grower tells me for nobile dends he sold to stop fertilize now the end of August and give it some dry winter rest, some others say they do not do winter rest at all, some say they just water less, everyone does whatever they do feel is good, so I assume this is the way I will have to go this year, I will do whatever I feel to and will see, but definitely will do rest because last year with no winter rest did not work for me what so ever. many thanks to you and others for tips and help.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Btw, I should mention that the majority of the rain we get will be during the late winter months - spring months.

---------- Post added at 07:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:06 AM ----------

Originally Posted by TOMMYMIAMI

Many Thanks king, I will go and read the link. I did already research many pages and bought and read many books, my concussion comes from too much reading and asking, I assume. Every book, every article online and every member here gives different version, unfortunately. My grower tells me for nobile dends he sold to stop fertilize now the end of August and give it some dry winter rest, some others say they do not do winter rest at all, some say they just water less, everyone does whatever they do feel is good, so I assume this is the way I will have to go this year, I will do whatever I feel to and will see, but definitely will do rest because last year with no winter rest did not work for me what so ever. many thanks to you and others for tips and help.

You're welcome.

Yeah, you gotta just feel it out.

You'll get it.

[TOMMYMIAMI]

Ohh and Dockrilla, GO FOR IT, it is extremely cute, and that is pretty much one of my orchids, that grows really like a weed, and blooms every single summer!!!! Amazing, it double in size every season, it is on the shade wall where phals are, mounted, and with daily watering it is big easy grower!!! It really does not matter how much you fertilize for this one in my eyes, last year I hardly fertilized maybe once every 2 months, bloomed many spikes, this year i do fertilize even 2x a month and blooms again multiple spikes;-)

---------- Post added at 10:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:10 AM ----------

Hi Rosie, the same issue here even this year, my bracteosum just started to give new growths like 2 weeks ago, they are so tiny still, he same with Goldschmidtianum, spikes just started to grow. I will go for it this year though, will stop fertilizing September, and reduce water for the fall and than stop watering probably beginning december till I see some buds. Just checking on canes and water or mist only if really needed. Will see:-)))

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I had a really close look at one of the Dockrilla species a few months ago at a local orchid shop, and it looked really nice. Since they primarily dealt with hybrids, the occasional species orchid they bring in will stick out. I wasn't sure which Dockrilla species it was, but I think it was Dockrilla wassellii. I passed it up at the time because I was penny pinching and I really didn't have the time to take care of too many orchids. If I had to get one, it'd probably be this one.