Hello David,

Thank you for that handy manual for my d. delicatum. I think I will manage
allright as far as temperatures are concerned but I fear the humidity is
going to be a problem. I will probably need to do a lot of misting.

Yes, that email address is real I am afraid. Though I only use it for
'newsgroup purposes' :-) I would be very gratefull if you would email me
some scans on delicatum. Being fairly new to the subject of orchids in
general and Dendrobiums in particular I can never read enough.
Steffie



"Dave Gillingham" schreef in bericht
...
Steffie, to add to John's comments - delicatum is a reasonably widespread
plant
that grows in the mountain areas of SE Australia. (In Australia, 1500
metres is
quite a high mountain.) The point is, its growing climate varies quite a
lot so
it's not too fussy about environment. But, typically, you would be
looking at
summer maxima at 30C as an extreme, with summer rain. Winter minima may
go as
low as 2C, and, as John said, winters are dry. They grow on the east
facing
escarpments, and in cool gullies, so get *lots* of air movement & good
light.
Since it's rising air, it cools and the humidity is usually fairly high.
Like
kingianum & the other parent, speciosum, they are all from section
dendrocoryne,
most species of which have similar needs. They like a cold winter (by our
standards) to initiate blooming. That all sounds quite daunting, but
really,
what John & I are saying, is:
Warm summers - water & fertilise.
Autumn-winter - progressively reduce watering; if possible, keep humidity
up.
Winter - cold nights - but not freezing; still humid if possible. In late
winter/early spring racemes should start to show.
Spring - start increasing water & fertiliser once new root tips show.
Enjoy
your blooms.

Is that your actual email address? If yes, you may get an increase in
spam from
posting it en clair. But, if that's it, I'll try to scan & email you some
pages
on delicatum from my books.

On Sat, 22 Apr 2006 18:56:34 +0200, "wshl7" wrote:

Thank you all for all this very usefull information. Both the website
Joanna advised and Johns response were very helpful indeed.
And Ray is right of course. I live in the Netherlands (Western Europe)
were
the climatological conditions are quite different from Johns in Australia.
Over here Dendrobium Delicatum, though difficult to kill, is also
extremely
difficult to get into bloom, or so I am told. That is why it was so
important to me to find out exactly how to grow this plant.
Hopefully I will succeed.
Steffie


"Ray" schreef in bericht
...
[Professor mode set to "ON"] - I don't know what put me in this mood
this
morning, so please accept my apologies in advance.

I want to seize this opportunity and use John's excellent response as an
example of how new orchid growers (and experienced ones - I cannot tell
you how many times I ignore my own advice.) can get in trouble. This
has
nothing to do with growing this plant or John's advice.

John correctly stated in the first paragraph that "This is an easy cool
growing Australian which is almost impossible to kill."

Where folks get in trouble is by focusing on the last phrase, and
ignoring
the first part, not to mention the details John offered later. In this
case, I am trying to stress that what folks miss is that "this [plant]
is
an easy cool growing Australian which is almost impossible to kill"...IF
you have cool growing conditions! Growing it warmer, say along side of
the phals a lot of new orchid growers often have, will not be so easy.

Everyone should be aware of what growing conditions they have and can
easily maintain, and to pay attention to the needs of the plants they
desire. Just because a plant is "easy" for one doesn't mean it's easy
for
all. I'm approaching the 40-year mark of orchid growing, and I still
struggle with some dendrobiums that others feel are like weeds.

[Professor mode now set to "OFF", if nothing more than to keep my wife
from rolling her eyes every time we converse today.]

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Hi Steffie

This is an easy cool growing Australian which is almost impossible to
kill. It is quick growing (for an orchid) and readily forms specimen
sized plants.

I grow it in an open mix of 50:50 medium bark and perlite. It is grown
outside all year round, protected by 50% shade cloth in summer to avoid
sunburn (Australian summer sun is very intense). In winter we get down
to about 3-4°C (approx 40°F) which doesn't seem to affect the plant but
it doesn't like to be frozen! The secret to success is to keep it on
the
dry side during winter but lots of bright light and plenty of fresh
air.
It is not a glasshouse plant. I water it every one or two days during
summer when the new growths are forming.

Rewards with heaps of delightful white/pink flowers (typically 10 to 30
flowers per raceme) in spring.

Hope this helps

Cheers

John
--
John Varigos
Melbourne, Australia
__________________________________________
To email me remove "usenet." from my email address.



"wshl7" wrote in message
ll.nl...
Hello evreybody

Some weeks ago I bought this Dendrobium delicatum en so I am trying
hard to find out what is the right way to grow this plant. Of course I
found heaps of information about Dendrobiums on the internet and a.o.
I
learned that there are three groups of dendrobiums, which grow resp.
onder hot, intermediate or cold conditions. What I did not found is to
which group my plant belongs. As there anybody out there who can help
me?

Steffie






Dave Gillingham
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