It's been a good year, rejoining the forum has been fun. Best of holiday wishes to you Arthur and to everyone else. On the G speciosum there is plenty of literature available but I lack specific info on my growing area. 1) I know they like it warm but how warm do they need to stay in the winter. I keep my greenhouse at 53F, is that warm enough. 2) I know they like direct sun, that's how they grow it in Hawaii. Can it take the full brunt of Southern California midday sun in July/Aug/Sept? 3) I have only seen pictures of it in a pot. It is reported to be an epiphyte and occasional lithophyte. I plan to grow it it in the saddle of a large root stump I have laying around. The only picture I have seen of it's root system implies it has fine roots. A heavy plant with fine roots will probably not hold on to its mount very well so maybe putting it in a pot would be a better idea after all. The fine hair roots seem to come from a larger base root, I'll make the final decision when I get the plant. I have seen small plants but never a large one and never one in bloom. No one here in LA grows a large one that I know off. Should be fun to try it and even more fun if the sucker actually blooms. If it gets big I can see building a small shed for it, 6' x 6' x 10' and blasting it with HI lights during the winter. A small dedicated greenhouse like that could also be kept warmer, 70F or even hotter during the winter without the cost of heating a large GH to that high temp. All of the above speaks of someone who has too much time on his hands!! Any sane person would throw their hands up at this prospect, probably the reason for a lack of response and also the reason why no one I know grows one. I grow a huge D specisosum but it needs minimal care as it likes the climate here and requires no tweaking of it's environment. This G speciosum is a horse of a different color. Nick

I have a ton of speciosums and thats after most were stolen from a rented greenhouse and what my dad killed. The short storg is that imported about 2.5k from Woolf Orchid Culture and a few months later, they were gone including all my variegated clivias, tillandsias, neofinetias, laelia anceps and lycastes. They only took labeled plants. So that ended my orchid growing career. Anyhow... Once they do bloom, they bloom regularly. Although they are known as cool growers, they really do need summer heat. When I lived in Los Angeles, I had bought about 12 divisions from Down Under Native Orchids who flew them in from Australia. They looked pretty terrible, mostly backbulbs and a few with leaves. It was fall 2010. I potted them up with coco chips and put them under a bench. The weather was still warm and they grew roots and sent up and matured fat pseudobulbs and most bloomed, rather sparsely, the following spring. Fast forward to 2015. They are all in the fog belt of the Bayarea with no protection. It rarely gets above 70 during the summer and nights are almost always below 50. Only about 5 out of 50 bloom each year. Growth is lush but new growth is sent out througout the year. The roots are okay but not great, its too wet during winter. Im actually dividing everything now as most are busting out of either 5 gallon squats or 15 gallons squats. I used a saw for most of it and tore them apart. Its the middle of winter and some have bew growth but all have new root growth so Im crossing my fingers. Ill be putting up a growit tent greenhouse tomorrow. If they dont bloom by next spring with a warmer and more protected environment, ill have to throw them away. Speaking of which, anyone want free divisions? They are a NOID, but they all came from DUNO. Shipping is pricy, though, unless we wait till May for ground shipping. Each bulb is about 2 lbs......

Kevin, that is gorgeous! Congratulations on blooming it! These are the type dends that OrchidNick grows and is ordering more of right now. I was sorely tempted, but don't think there's any way I could bloom them. I couldn't resist the sarcos though and hope I can keep them alive and eventually bloom them. Again, beautiful blooms.

I don't grow these types but a Google search will give you some insight. Many of the forum member can likely recommend favorite sites