Hi Helga, The way to go is to become a specialist in a few Genera and resist temptations along the way. Comments on your plants. Den. Maiden Charlotte (rhodostictum x aberrans) . New Guinea Type Den. Pam Tajima, - New Guinea Type Den. Maiden Charlotte (rhodostictum x aberrans) - New Guinea Type Den. Alexandrae x Den.Convolutum 'Green Elf' - Registered Name is Green Elf- New Guinea Type Try growing these as per your Cattleyas and see how you go. Intuwong x Trudy Brandt is a typical Hardcane type. I do grow a few of the various types of Dendrobium but i have more than one set of growing conditions. Maybe see which ones grow and flower best for you and concentrate on those.

Thanks Guys and Nancy, One thing I know is that they need a couple of cool/cold nights, say in the mid to high 40's... I even know someone in St Pete zone 9 who leaves them outdoors all year and it gets down to the high 30's at times and they do real well. I think I did everything right to be honest, just had a bad bloom season... no blooms at all. John, someone told me I was zone 11 as well, but nowhere can I find a zone chart which lists us as zone 11... I'm within 1 mile from the coast. Anyhow, I grow mine on the trees too. My aphyllums bloomed beautifully. I'm thinking that I skipped the anosmums at times when feeding and I know that they're heavy feeders. Its disappointing hearing that its too late because I have a few plants with 5 foot canes, one of them an alba. Oh, and about it being too late in the season, a couple of mine came to full bloom in June last year and the year before. I guess thats where my confusion comes in, though others faithfully bloom in April. Well, thanks again all. I plan to feed a little heavier this time around. Al

Hi arthurm, great to hear from you. It was your advice (along with Neptune's notes) that helped me to get my Den. kingianum to bloom, so thanks again for that. The flowers I see on Google are very like den. kingianum, so worth a bit of looking after, I think. I will try to keep this one going. Do you know if there is an "alba" form, or is mine likely to be purple too? Again, many thanks indeed for your kind help. Always good to have an Aussie resident for advice as I try to make these little blighters happy so far from home. Cheers.

Den. spectabile needs to stay moist year round with lots of bright light. The aggregatum is now called lindleyl and it is one that wants reduced water during the winter. By reduced, it doesn't want to go weeks without watering because in the habitat there is heavy dew every night. I grow in a g/h and what I do for this family of Dens is if the sun is shining, I pass the nozzle over the plant but if there is no sun, it is ignored. No fertilizer during the winter. It will bloom on bare canes in the spring and you increase the water when the new growth appears, which is right after blooming. I don't do the nobile type Dens. Brooke