Den Hawaii Spectacular

[nubiesan]

We keep the plant outside here in Naples, FL (southwest coast) on the lanai which has a pool cage. I put the plant out in the sun for the picture, but it usually is not in direct sun all day. We water them once a week in warm months, and twice a week in the dry season, and feed them weekly. They are not out in the rain, but given the humidity level around here, I don't think I need to supplement that. Humidity levels range from 50 - 100% and the coldest it ever gets is high 40's for maybe one or two nights in winter. Most of the time winter nights are in the high 50's. Summer temperatures can get into the high 90's with nighttime lows in the low 70's.

The tag has the date 8/17/17; not sure if that is when it was started. I bought it in April of 2018 with two others. One of them, Little Green Apples, has a flower spike. The plant itself is a lot smaller.

Hopefully, this guy will start to put out some flowers soon. Your plants are gorgeous! I hope mine gets to be half as nice.

[Jeff214]

I think your plant looks healthy and large enough to bloom. Mine first bloomed around the size of your plant. I grew mine on a south-facing window (indoors) in GA.

Just give it a little more time. These plants usually grow over the summer and fall months, start a flower spike in Jan/Feb, and bloom in Feb/March for me.

And as your plant grows larger, you'll get a better show each year as new and old psedobulbs can flower. It will take a few more years to get there though. As Roberta on this board says... patience...!

Good luck!

[nubiesan]

Finally, the Hawaii Spectacular decided to become spectacular!
The plant is huge, and showed flower buds for maybe a month before they started to open

---------- Post added at 02:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:51 PM ----------

This is the first time I am trying to upload a picture of my orchids. The pictures are on dropbox, and I hope this time it works.Dropbox - Hawaii Spectacular - Simplify your life

[Jeff214]

Congrats, nubiesan! Nice blooms.
It will get even more spectacular each year.
These bloom on older growths multiple times, sometimes from the same nodes the next year.

[nubiesan]

I didn't realize that the orchid would bloom more than once a year.

I do have a Little Green Apple that is putting out a flower spike even though it bloomed a few months ago. I also have a Nora Korunaga that has a LOT of flower spikes -- maybe 5 -6 coming. That plant looks very different from the others, but with luck they will settle in to some kind of schedule

I am amazed at the size of the Hawaii Spectacular plant -- it's huge compared to the others. The ones I see posted here are amazing.

Should I move it to a bigger pot? It is in the original pot, but it looks very top heavy; I would not want to upset it by moving it, but I am afraid to move it lest it fall over and break. I know the orchids like to be in small pots, but this one looks out of proportion. Your thoughts?

[Jeff214]

Mine only blooms once a year. I meant that older canes can repeatedly bloom, year after year.
Flower spikes can sometimes appear from the same point where it spiked in previous years. In a few years, you'll have a dozen psuedobulbs that flower every spring! Mine was getting too large - so I divided mine up in 4 and sold them. I saved the backbulbs and it's making 5 new leads this Spring. Very vigorous.

Having Den. spectabile as a parent is probably why this one is on the large side. Still, alot smaller than Den. spectabile! Many of the other popular latourias have smaller species like Den. aberrans, Den. normanbyense, and Den. atroviolaceum in its lineage.

I like Den. Roy Tokunaga and Den. Mini Snowflake (12" tall?). Honestly there are so many crosses these days from H&R nurseries. The trend seems to be "small and floriferous".

My latouria dendrobiums all like being pot bound. I only repot mine when the new growths are spilling over the edge of the pot. And yes... some of these latouriate dendrobiums can be very top heavy... mine have fallen multiple times. I pot mine in terra cotta, then put that pot in a larger terra cotta orchid pot to prevent it from falling over.

I haven't tried it but I'm sure you could hang it?