Callista section dendrobiums?

[loneroc]

Howdy all,

Who grows these? I'm looking to pick one up and I'm I'm wondering about the plusses and minus of individual species.

These species come to mind immediately:
Dendrobium densiflorum, D. farmeri, D. thyrsiflorum, D. lindleyi, D jenkinsii

Are there other species in section Callista? The characteristics I'm particularly interested in are flower longevity, fragrance and low temperature tolerance. I grow in a greenhouse.

As always, thanks to everyone! Steve H

[DirtyCoconuts]

i have a farmers dendrobium and i love it but the flowers do not last especially long.

I have a lindeyii as well but it has not flowered in the two years i have had it and i could not tell you much about the flowers

[papayj]

I've grown sulcatum, farmeri and lindleyi and still growing lindleyi for about 5 years (I've killed farmeri due to fungal rot, traded sulcatum before moving though...)

In my experience, they are easy to grow--no strict and harsh winter rest regimen like sect. dendrobium. Greenhouse culture is just fine; just reduce watering during winter months.

But their flower longevity is kinda short--flower lasts about only 10 days, and the scent is rather weak; farmeri had weak floral scent and I can't smell anything from sulcatum and lindleyi...

BTW, I found that my lindleyi likes very bright sunlight--it is sitting just in front of my south facing balcony window, with only the double pane glass keeping between it and the sun. I reliably blooms every March, and now I have five flower spikes growing out of the plant right now.

[SaraJean]

Originally Posted by loneroc

Howdy all,

Who grows these? I'm looking to pick one up and I'm I'm wondering about the plusses and minus of individual species.

These species come to mind immediately:
Dendrobium densiflorum, D. farmeri, D. thyrsiflorum, D. lindleyi, D jenkinsii

Are there other species in section Callista? The characteristics I'm particularly interested in are flower longevity, fragrance and low temperature tolerance. I grow in a greenhouse.

As always, thanks to everyone! Steve H

I have all of the ones you mentioned and the only one I really have issues with is the Den. lindleyi. That is also sold under the name Den. aggregatum, and is more commonly know as the Den. aggre-vate-um because its just that... aggravating. Some of these are very reluctant bloomers so my advice would be to purchase one in person that is in bloom or has evidence of many old spikes. You will hear some people say this species needs a hard cold/cool rest with out a drop of water, some swear by a mild rest, others say it must have super high light in the winter, one lady I know puts it in her dark garage every year and blooms it, others have had resounding success growing it out doors in Hawaii with zero special care. The key seems to be to get a good clone. Unfortunately, I haven’t taken my own advice. I have four of these, none with previous spikes, and none have bloomed for me no matter what conditions I’ve given them. The grow like champs though... I’m going to see if I can weasel a division out of some one in my orchid society.


The others on your list are great. The Den. densiflorum and Den. farmeri seem to absolute easiest to bloom with the others not far behind. If you are looking for flower longevity, this entire section is going to be a problem. 5-10 days at the absolute most for individual flowers and each inflorescence opens up all flowers on it at almost the same time. However, each of the spikes don’t all develop and open at once. My densiflorum and farmeri are my oldest and will be covered in blooms for about 3-4 weeks as they all start to open. That’s the best thing about this section, the old canes just keep reblooming for years and years and you can have a wall of flowers in just a few years. They may not last long but they are all pretty spectacular

I’ve found the densiflorum and thyrsiflorum to have the most fragrance but that also really depends on the clone. The jenkinsii I keep in intermediate temps in the winter (I’ve also had success blooming it with nights no lower than 65) but the others are pretty cold tolerant. I mostly leave them outdoors year round, kept pretty dry in the winter, and only move them if we have a night below freezing.

[Asian Cymbidium Empress]

I have 2 Dendrobium species in this section:

Dendrobium aggregatum (lindyii)
Dendrobium chrysotoxum

I have both plants for over 15 years. They pretty much bloom every year and a lot of flowers. Each plant can have around 75-100 flowers every year when all spikes bloom at the same time. However, they only last about 2 weeks (so very short).

In terms of winter rest/winter cool down, I keep them in a room around 15C/59F (daily low). I water them once every 3 weeks so it is low maintenance in the winter.

Dendrobium fameri and Dendrobium thyrsiflorum will require a lower temp in the winter. Also, Dend. thyrisiflorum will require a lower temp during the growth period compared with the other species in the Callista section.

I hope this helps.

[Asian Cymbidium Empress]

Here is a picture of my Dendrobium chrysotoxum from 2019. This year, there are 6 spikes and once they are in full bloom, I will post the pictures.

[fishmom]

Beautiful display! Do you have a picture of the lindleyi?

[Asian Cymbidium Empress]

I do, but they pictures are not very nice.

I bought the Dendrobium lindleyi from Hauserman Orchids in Chicago more than 15 years ago.

it is a very nice one, produces large flowers and at least 10-15 flowers per stem