Thread: Den Questions
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Old 22-03-2005, 04:06 AM
danny
 
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Dendrobium is a very large group of orchids and some of the species require
very different conditions from each other to grow and bloom well. I can
assure you that you won't find the answers in "Ortho's All About Orchids" or
the "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids". Those books simply do not go in
depth enough. It looks like ten of the plants mentioned are species, if you
search for each name individually you may find be able to find cultural
information. I don't know if you can find it all in one place unless you
want to pay for it at Charles Baker's site (www.orchidculture.com). If you
can find someone with a copy of the Baker & Baker book "Orchid Species
Culture Dendrobium" it has information on most of the species. Of course
much may depend on your individual plants, some just bloom more easily than
others. Here is some highly summarized info on rest periods from the Baker
& Baker book:

Not much of a rest period (temps 60F+, never completely dry out)- D.
antennatum, D. bracteosum, D. distichum, D. lasianthera, D. spectabile
(reduce fertilizer in winter)

Cool dry rest (around 50F) - D. kingianum (very bright light), D.
loddigesii, D. nobile, D. monoliforme (don't dry out completely), D.
speciosum (don't dry out completely)

-danny