Your orchid might bloom from the developing new canes/pseudobulbs when they are mature provided you give the plant enough light.

It is a Hard-cane/Phal-Type Dendrobium that should be easy to grow in Zone 10 though you do not say where you live (state).

The plant looks in good health so urgent repotting is not necessary. Might be best to give it that little bit of extra light and see what happens when the newest canes mature.

Thanks-- I live in San Diego, right on the coast... Unfortunately my apartment only has 3 windows, and the other two are south facing with direct light- I'm worried that would be too much for it. Maybe just patience for the flowers?
For future reference, how crowded/sickly do they need to be for repotting? I've had this one almost 2 years, so I'm thinking in another it will be ridiculous...

Mine are in a glasshouse getting filtered sun all year through shade-cloth. You need some sunlight filtered by say a thin curtain or similar. Indoor growers will advise.

The plant is fine, they are best slightly under-potted and you can leave repotting till spring.

Dim light and Dendrobium do not go together! Get the plant in strong light and you'll get flowers. Mine go outside in May (NY) and work up to full outdoor sun all summer. They take high light, not dim.

You still have some time to get those newest canes to bloom. Get them sun.

Jane

I realize I'm not in the same zone as you, but in my last apartment I put my Dendrobiums right outside on my south facing balcony for the summer. They got a lot of full sun, with very little shade. After getting used to the extra light they did great...though they did not like coming back inside for the winter. I would think even in your zone you'd still be safe putting them close to your south windows. Though it might not look like it, glass filters out a lot of the sun's light.

Tyler

Adjust the plant to more light gradually, like we do to prevent sunburn. But give it as much light as it can take. Fry it. Also, very often at this time of year, some of the older canes start shedding their leaves. If they look sorry, that may be what's happening. From looking at the pot, the plant looks like it still has room. My dens get CROWDED in the pot and they bloom like crazy.

Ditto what 126 said. I'm in S. Central Texas and my plants are now exposed to direct sunlight until 1:30 - 2:00 p.m., filtered (by a shade tree) sunlight the rest of the day. They bloom, bloom & bloom! Move them over a week or two into the sunlight of that south window and you'll get blooms. It's a great looking plant and should reward you with numerous spikes.

hard to see, but the roots dont seem to be root-bound.

wait till early next spring, since its over 1 year. the potting mix is prob ready to be replaced by then.

when using organic materials, repot every 2 years or so. i use the clay pebbles and only repot when the orchid is root-bound.

Some of you may wonder why i didn't advise the OP to put the plant outside....

Well, i had some reservations about the Climate in San Diego. There is something called a Santa Ana that may or may not affect San Diego.

As for Zone10. Depends on where the Zone 10 is. Suspect that there is a big difference between Zone 10 on the eastern and western sides of the USA.

Hard-cane Dens outside here. Forget it. Tried that experiment and failed. AND San Diego is one place in the USA that looks like and feels like here.

If it is a D speciosum hybrid, which it well may be, you need to handle it differently. They can take full sun, but you need to adjust them to it gradually. Since this is fall and you live in an apartment, I would give it max light you can find. Just keep your eye on the leaves in case they do burn, if its a specisosum varient it won't.

Depending on which speciosum is in the parentage you might wait for flowers a long time as some of them need to get large before they finally bloom. They will not bloom on the new cane, only on old canes. If you grew new canes this Spring or Summer, they will not bloom next spring, the following spring maybe.

Many of these types plant need to be chilled in the winter in order to bloom in the spring. Mine are outside and 2 years ago got down to 23F to 25F without damage. By keeping it warm in your apartment you preclude a spring bloom, put it outside and let it get cold.

I think repotting is of minor importance, they are epiphytes/lithophytes in nature and will grow anywhere. I would repot it in the spring and use rock. Make sure the rocks are large enough to allow air movement between them. Fred Clark in Vista, 'Sunset Orchids' I believe, sells a perfect Australian diatomite mix. If you can't find him let me know and I will give you his handle. If you can water it daily, mine do best mounted but that's a different story.

Sine D speciosums are expensive and usually not found at Trader Joe's, its probably a Delicatum or other hybrid and only some of what I said applies to the degree that speciosum is in the parentage. I still think the advice applies.

Good luck, Nick

Nick, the orchid in question is probably a warm growing hard-cane Dendrobium. They are extremely difficult to grow here and die if subject to Den. speciosum heaven conditions.

I know some people like to call them Phal-Dens but if you look at the breeding of most of them you will find many other Dendrobiums in the lineage apart from Dendrobium phalaenopsis.

Such as Dendrobium
bigibbum
lasianthera
macrophyllum
atroviolaceum
canaliculatum
discolor
gouldii
pulchellum
stratiotes
lineale
plus many more.

There are some Australian types that been bred with the so called Phal. types and in most cases the link is via Dendrobium tetragonum.

Getting away a bit from the question of whether or not the orchid will survive outside in San Diego.

I stand corrected, I think you are right.

Nick

Phal - type Dens are almost exclusively what's found in the Trader, Home Depot, Lowe's type stores. They have a visually obvious bigibbum parentage. I have bigibbum and 4 or 5 hybrids that have never seen the outside but they do just fine up next to the glass in a SouthEast window under flourescent lights. In fact, I've git biggy and three others in bud & bloom right now !

They've all been in their same pot for 2 to 5 years and I'd say the average repotting time is no less than 4 years !! They LOVE to be pot bound !! When I have overpotted them (in my novice days) they wouldn't bloom or grow much until they fill the pot with roots, about 2 years ! Then they would take off !!

I know Arthur will get a kick out of this ! My dens all LOVE 'Aussie Gold' !!!

Chryss

So do mine, Aussie is great for dens, all varieties. I don't even repot them. If they grow all over, I stick their pot inside another. Their roots fill up the space.

Jane

We have wandered off track to Diatomite. One of the ingredients in the fabled Aussie Gold. But is it the ingredient that produces the magic results? Lol.

Now Jane, i can only wish that my Hard-Cane Dendrobiums looked like the one you posted over on the gallery recently.

It is 16:00 hours now and a sea breeze has come in. Outside is no longer the death zone to Phals and Phal type Dens. It is only spring and it was a horrible 33C with 22% humidity around about lunch time. No sweat on the brow in those conditions.

Den. bigibbum is very closely related to Den. phalaenopsis in fact some experts call it a variety of that orchid.