I have no experience growing nobile, but your blooms are so pretty. I like the green leaves on the top of the stalk. Congrats on getting the blooms.

I have a yamamoto hybrid that I'd love to see bloom!

Those are really beautiful flowers. Congrats!

I've only grown one of the Yamamoto hybrids and the first year I had it, there were only a few blooms. It came to me as a very large keikie, so I think that was probably the reason. The second year, it had many more blooms and the third even more. Mine also never dropped all its leaves in winter. A few turned yellow and fell, but not many.

Kevin

The part of the cane that didn't bloom may surprise you and bloom next season. Dens bloom on old canes, often leafless canes.

Thanks to all of you for the complimentary remarks! I haven't had anything flowering for me since September, so I'm really thrilled with these blooms.
Orchid 126- thanks for the info. I'll nurture the dried old cane as though it were fresh, young and green and expect more blooms off it next year!
Sheila - I wish I could be of some help with your attempts to bloom the Yamamoto hybrid, but as you can see, I know next to nothing about growing dendrobiums. I think maybe what helped for me was the fact that so far it has been a particularly dry winter - almost every day has been cold, but brilliantly sunny.
Kevin - my plant seems to be following the growth pattern of yours, so from your description, I think I know what to expect from mine in the future. I wonder if it is actually also a Yamamoto hybrid, although it wasn't labelled as such.
By the way, it has a sweet, delicate honey-like fragrance.
Judy

How are you growing it?
The canes look thin and the leaves really dark for a nobile.
I would suggest once the new growth starts, to repot in sphagnum, add some dynamite (balanced) to the sphagnum, and keep watered during active growth. Grow in full sun, that way next season it will be flooded with blooms.
looks like it is a mature keiki. The nodes that didnt bloom this year should bloom next year as orchid 126 stated.

Judy, in nature nobiles are subject to monsoons. They grow from April til the end of August. During this time they need lots of water, fertilizer, and sun. To prepare them for winter in August cut out all fertilizer and cut back slowly on watering. During late fall and winter they need to be cool, almost cold, sunny and very dry. Regular nobiles need complete dryness and Yammamoto nobiles need very little water.

Orchidguy - I know it's my fault, but please don't jump to conclusions because of my imperfect photography. I assure you that this plant received PLENTY of light right up till the flowers opened fully. In real life, the leaves are a mid grass green - any lighter than that and they would be more yellow than green. When I tried to snap the photo with sunlight on the plant, the flowers came out very pale. Plant grew 5cm from June 08 and actually didn't stop growing even while the nubs were developing. The top two leaves are still very close together.
Now the plant is gracing our living room, and will stay there until the last flower drops. I plan to follow care procedures based on Kevin's and Orchid126's experience/advice. Incidentally, sphagnum isn't an appropriate medium for my conditions and is very hard to find here, in any case. I use bark or coconut husk mixes, sometimes with added red lava chunks or pebbles, depending on the plant. When I decided to repot, I'll see what the orginial medium consists of and will replace with something similar. I will recommence fertilising procedures that I used while the plant was in active growth last year.
Judy

Judy,

I grew my Yamamoto in lava rock as I do almost all my Dends., but that may get too hot in your climate during the summer months.

Kevin

Judy, lovely flowers! It's gotta be an extra treat if it's your only blooming plant right now.

To add to the confusion, my Yamamoto is reblooming for the 2nd time in a row, and it's been here 2+ years. This year, 9 spikes on 3 canes. A 10th spike blasted.

Dendrobium Himezakura 'Sanokku' The flowers aren't open all the way.

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It's in sphag that gets crunchy on top before watering - all year round, except it's a little wetter when in spike/bud/bloom. All year, I fertilize and leach on the same schedule.

Maybe 3-4 leaves have fallen.

Light is E/SE w/ 26W CFLs in octopus lamps. Humidity last night was 10%. Winter temps high 50s - mid-60s or mid-70s, depending on sunlight.

Just ran across these notes, but I didn't record the source: "I personally manage all of these like standard nobiles, however, the big advantage for them is that if they have a drop in temperature in the fall that they then can be placed in a warm, int, or cool room and they will flower. Moreover, they can be watered during this period. They will still lose their leaves like any nobile, either before, during, or shortly after flowering."

Flowers on this one have a lovely scent, too.

Of course, this culture may not work in the long run.

Enjoy! Whitecat8

This Yamamoto stuff is just too much. There are other breeders of Hybrid Softcane Dendrobiums.

I have one Soft-cane Dendrobium Hybrid. It is Dendrobium Yukidaruma 'King'. Yamamoto must have bred it when he was in Kindergarden. Still good after many years. It will bloom next spring from the cane produced in 2007, not the one produced in 2008. Whereas some of the "modern" types will bloom from the newest fully leafed cane.

Take a look at the Thumbnails in the Link. Most are owned by the one specialist grower of soft-canes. She does not know if the breeder was Yamamoto, Larapinta or Sam down the road. She grows them all under the same conditions.

If you want to split them Modern versus Older Hybrids is the way to go.

Speaking of which Judy's Orchid is one of the older types, In the right climate it will grow and flower like a weed (and produce a wonderful show of flowers). One is still alive and blooms every year in the wreckage of my late father in law's shade-house. No care whatsoever for twelve years and still alive and well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Soft-cane photos

I use fine bark for my nobile dens. My reasoning is that in the spring and summer they need lots of water which the fine bark will hold well. In the fall and winter they need lots less water, so the bark remains mostly dry, so small bark doesn't matter.

Glorious blooms, Whitecat - thanks for sharing. I hope you're keeping this one!
Arthur - thanks for the added information on soft-cane Dendrobiums. Very interesting. So mine is still a Den. nobile...hybrid or not, what does it matter? I'm enjoying the blooms and the promise of more to come next year.
As for later repotting - I tend towards bark mix with some added lava chunks.
Thanks once again for all the contributions to the OP
Judy