I have no other feedback than to say I purchased his 5 pack dendrobium special. They are in three inch pots and look good. I still have them outdoors until the winter doom comes.

I am interested in hearing from others on these dendroiums.

Australian dens love it here in southern california and fairly easy if you toss them outside. Many parts of australia are climatewise similar to CA. The key to them is really the high light, steep temp drops at night, and the cool winter chill... which is why I also had a hard time growing them until I moved here. I'm speaking specifically of d. kingianum and d. speciosum and the like, which as parents, carry on the ability to bloom their heads off and in dryer conditions, which i think comprise most of the hybrids.

Once you start breeding in less temp and light fluctuating needy species genetics in there (like d. tetragonum), then you have more "tolerance" of less cultivation variation I think, which leads to better success in growing these hybrids in less than southern CA climate areas.

Thanks for the feedback. My main concern is he is selling crosses which have not bloomed out. I don't know what is in the background. I assume, if he's selling in Florida these are warm tolerant.

Arthur, Nick, any thoughts?

Jane

Seek local knowledge! You might be better off growing the traditional warm growing hard-cane Dendrobiums.

Maybe avoid any primary hybrids with a speciosum parent. Some are very slow to mature.
Example: speciosum x Karloo just bloomed 18 years after deflasking. Very nice, but 18 years!!! While the Hilda Poxon (speciosum x tetragonum) Picture below flowered a few years out of flask.

Perhaps the key is the use of Den. tetragonum. Gives the shape in the orchids shown below.
Might impart some warmth tolerance and you will not have to wait ages to see a bloom.

Here are pics of three. Two are mentioned in the breeding on the list.

Dendrobium Aussie Parade 'Carrot Splash'
{{gwi:193397}}

Dendrobium Silver Eye
This is a so called Hot /Cold Dendrobium. One ancestor is Den. bigibbum.

{{gwi:193398}}

Dendrobium Hilda Poxon 'Neville'
{{gwi:193399}}

This post was edited by arthurm on Sun, Sep 28, 14 at 6:31

Fred Clarke is making the rounds in south Florida. He is scheduled in Jupiter soon and I thought about going. But his presentation varies by society and he will talk on Catts. in Jupiter.

Yesterday I ordered a blooming size Den. Speciosum Curciale from a vendor in St. Petersburg. This plant bloomed for him last year. He says that places like Homestead, fl and Hawaii will grow the plant but will not flower because it needs 40's or lower to initiate. It is cold enough in the winter here so I'm hopeful.

Jane will you get some cold enough temps also?

Fred Clark has an excellent reputation in SOCAl as a vendor, grower and speaker. He even made a movie (The black orchid, the grower and the thief or something like that) about how great he is. I would not hesitate to buy from him.

Au Dendrobiums are about as difficult to grow in SOCAL as dandelions or crabgrass. We therefore think of them as indestructible. I think they should do well for you.

Sorry for the slow response, I was up in San Francisco handing over my bank account to John Leathers from Hawk Hills for some wonderful new Dracula some of which seem to be made out of gold.

Nick

sorry jane, guess i didn't realize what you were asking!

18 years... wow. there sometimes is a benefit to shelling out for BS.

Tetragonum is such an amazing species... no doubt adds much to the hybrid growing reqs... and that it can flower for a longer period than others is always good.

Maybe the us treasury should recognize dracula as a standard of currency?

thanks for info, arthur... maybe i need to get some of these... lol

Jane I have a speciosum and my g/h is never colder than 60 in the winter.

Sorry can't help you with the Den question since they are not my passion.

Brooke

Hi Brook. Which Speciosum do you have and how long has it been blooming?

Thanks all. Temps get down to 40's but briefly for a short time.

Arthur, I tried to grow one of those hybrids in NY and I recall I couldn't get it to flower. I think I'll pass on these dends. I'm running out of space.

Brooke, thanks for stopping by. I was hoping to hear what you were growing and how well they do in Florida. I think the night temps in January would probably do the trick, but I think I'll just stick with the monster hard canes I have and pass on anymore dends.

Nick, I'll try to pass around a basket on the forum. You can get some help by joining a 12-step program. I was wondering where you were...

Badanobada, nice to meet you and welcome to the forum! Maybe you can help your your old friend?

Jane

Shaved it is the compactum variety and it has bloomed for me for several years. It was given to me by a friend who couldn't get it to bloom because his g/h doesn't get enough light.

Currently it is in a 14" clay pot and should be able to stay there for at least one more season.

Brooke

I have a hilli for a few months and a pedunculatum for a few weeks and tomorrow a curvicaule should arrive. None have bloomed for me but 2 have bloomed once before. The pedunculatum upon arrival had the new growth eaten by a snail. I'm hoping for a back bulb to kick in. Pictures of the blooms are amazing. I've been concerned that I did not see any speciosums among vendors and other growers. But I've been assured that they can bloom here. I bought the curvicaule from a Florida grower. He bloomed the plant last year.

The fragrance on my speciosum is fantastic. The blooms will open during the day but close up at night. Love this plant but the blooms don't last very long.

Brooke

I have quite a few of his hybrids and they are all outstanding as far as growth habit. I bought a few of his first few hybrids in 2010. They have flowered regularly at my dads house in Pacifica. They all look like better color saturated versions of delicatums, the new ones are a bit more exciting but I neither have the money or space for anymore until I decide what I want to keep or not.

I am a big fan of Aussie Dendrobiums because they don`t need to be "babied" like a lot of other orchids. I bought three of them last February and three more at our Spring Show in April from Sunset Valley Orchids in three inch pots. For the most part they are pretty vigorous and all upgraded into 4" pots over the summer. They are all in spike now!

This is the champion, it's the most vigorous and might have to be repotted again next summer.

The leaf damage you can see happened during transit when the shipment was held up in Memphis for three days due to a snow storm.

I did not think any hybrid of speciosum would bloom as a small plant like this but here you go!

Two other Aussie Dens are just starting to spike and one unfortunately blasted the beginning spikes probably due to the recent hot spell we had.

Nicely grown, Eve. My pack of five is still growing strong but only one bud so far. I am sure it ia my climate and my growing not the plants. I will get there one day.