There is a lot of debate about the degree of dryness needed by the Dendrobiums that come from climates with dryish "winters". The ones i grow (not Den aggravation) get watered sparsely in a glasshouse and whatever rainfall happens in winter here out in the shadehouse . Winter is mostly sunny and dry but you never know when heavy rains are going to fall in an erratic climate. Dendrobium aggravation is rarely seen on orchid society benchings here and maybe that degree of flowering difficulty is what prompted an AOC Judging panel to give that orchid pictured above a cultural award. A very poor photo that does not do justice to a magnificent feat of culture.

The flowers on these are sooo bright and cheery! Sharon

Valieta, Let me throw my .02 cents worth in here. I grew Den. aggregatum for a number of years. I bloomed mine in South Carolina, Kansas, Florida, and Virginia. The plant comes from around the northern part of India, and ranges from the high altitudes to down in fairly low altitudes. This means that some of them get cool dry periods in the winter, and some get less. the altitude that your plant actually came from may affect its blooming, but then you may have one from low altitudes, and it'll be easy. I had a small greenhouse, so all my plants pretty much lived under the same conditions. my aggregatum may have bloomed out of season a few times...Its been a very long time ago...but really, I did not care because it was beautiful when it did and that was what mattered. I would grow it like a Cattleya, then in the fall/winter shelter it from water as much as possible. The pseudobulbs will shrivel a bit, but expect that. keep the plant out of the sunlight and as cool at night as possible, and hope for the best. One trick that works for some cymbidium growers who live where their plants can't get cool nights to bloom is to put a tray of ice in the pot each night for a few weeks in the fall. That may or may not work for you, because you are in effect watering the plant with ice. You might try a season or two without the ice, and if the plant refuses to bloom, try one season with Ice and see. read up and get familiar with the seasonal weather the plant experiences in its growing area, and do your best to match that where you are. Sometimes its a snap to get plants to bloom in different climates than they are accustomed to, and sometimes its just impossible. Either way, its fun trying. Bill

Yours is very pretty I should let mine get bigger too. The problem with putting it in a bigger pot is that because of the horizontal growth pattern you end up having most of the bottom full of decaying bark shunks. I might just stuff the bottom with styrofoam or try to grow it mounted.