That's ok, Nick. It was a shot in the dark and was utterly surprised when I got a hit. lol. I will post some on the group exchange and see what I can come up with. I had at least a hundred different den species until a family member thought they'd help me "clean up" and trashed all those that were resting for the winter and then some. I can't justify spending a lot of money to rebuild my collection... But thanks anyway! :-)

Cannot find "Dendrobium 'Donovan's Opulence' in the register of Hybrids, but just say the label got mangled and it is Dendrobium Donovan. If so, it adds to the point I was making above about "more of the same" Dendrobium 'Donovan's Opulence' looks nothing like kingianum or speciosum but if in fact it is Den. Donovan then both those orchids are ancestors as well as tetragonum and bigibbum. In Australian parlance it is a hot/cold Dendrobium and may be easier to grow than say Den. kingianum in parts of the USA away from California. This post was edited by arthurm on Sat, Mar 1, 14 at 18:50

Jerry - it's strange because this didn't start happening until late spring/early summer. I have it in a very open mix of coconut and hydroton - perhaps I should soak more often..it has been getting bone dry for days at a time...guess this was fine for the winter when they don't want as much water, but not too great for the summer. Brooke - that is AMAZING to know!! So from what you're saying, it seems like these like it wet but very airy as well. Now that you mention this, I realize my tobaense actually dropped all it's leaves in what I believe is an extreme case of what I'm observing with the hybrid. Repotted it this morning and noticed it was in a pretty nasty fine bark mix that was breaking down, underneath a layer of sphag (which was constantly crispy). Not too many good roots (probably resulting in drought like symptoms) I repotted in a more open mix, and will keep it more moist while allowing it to dry out somewhat. Thanks for the ideas everyone...I'll try to up the watering.

There are two main types of Dends in general cultivation the first and more popular type is evergreen, the so called 'phal type dends'. The second type is deciduous and will (should) lose leaves and go dormant in winter. ArthurM can and may post here and tell you what type a Kiwi Love is, I myself do not know. What I can tell you is that if you don't know then likely you have been watering it regularly till the present time. Even deciduous type dends depend on external cues for their leaf drop and water is one of them. In true indoor conditions where seasonal cues are extremely blunted it is hard to get many deciduous plants to 'go down'. It is interesting that yours is doing so. Dends are real light lovers. I wonder if screened East light is really doing it for that orchid. You might want to look into that going forward. H