Thanks Dave. I'm pretty much giving the plant the conditions you describe.
It is growing wonderfully. I'll just be patient for a while and see what
happens.
Garland


"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
Tom, Garland, let me quote from one of my bibles - "Dendrobium and its
Relatives" by Lavarack, Harris & Stocker. All three are highly
experienced &
qualified, & their work involves them in the orchids of the region from
which D
laevifolium comes.

"... occurs in several islands to the east of New Guinea ... It grows from
about
300 m to 2300 m altitude, in damp moss forests where it often occurs low
down on
tree trunks ... While this species can be grown in warm conditions, cool
to
intermediate temperatures are preferable. It can be grown on a slab, but
a pot
of well-drained mixture is best, as the plants must not be allowed to dry
out.
Year round heavy watering and shaded conditions with high humidity are
necessary."

It does *not* need to be dried out, & (depending on how cold your winters
are)
do no more than reduce fertilising& watering in the colder months.

I have a plant that I was growing successfully in sphagnum in a saucer.
Since
nearly all my collection is in bark & this was watered in summer with the
rest,
it was *sodden*. And it did fine. Kept the sphagnum at least damp through
the
winter. I've worried about that, & recently repotted into bark in the
saucer.
Not sure if I did the right thing.

Forgive me for climbing on to a hobby horse for a moment: Dendrobes come
from
such an incredible range of environments (hot wet steamy jungles, Aussie
monsoon
areas with hot *dry* weather for 9 months - no winter, up to China, into
the
Himalayan foothills, evergreen forests, deciduous forests) that the old
mantra
of "water in the growing season, dry out in the resting period" can well
be
disastrous for a plant, depending on where it comes from. You *must* know
a
species' natural environment, and at least get somewhere near that. They
are
adaptable to a degree - I have tropical phalaenanthes growing within
metres of
temperate dendrocorynes, with the only considerations I can modify being
light &
watering. But you still need to be aware of their preferred environment.
Use a
library - you only need to look it up once for each species.

Complex hybrids? Ask someone who grows them, or guess from their
constituent
species.

Here endeth the sermon for today :-)

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 11:25:34 -0800, tbell wrote:

I have a Den. laevifolium, nicely crowded in a 1 1/2" pot, which got off
to a
rocky start when my GH overheated 2 years ago, but is now leafing out
beautifully. Question: Is it time to dry it out and stop fertilizing, and
if
so, how completely and for how long?

Tom
Walnut Creek, CA
Nikon D70
Dave Gillingham
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