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

http://www.nhorchids.org/pages_growing/kingianum.htm
Dendrobium x delicatum is a natural primary hybrid of den kingianum, so I
think the den kingianum culture sheet is probably relevant to it as well.

Best,

Joanna

"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

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

[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

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

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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

Ray, you are quite correct to point out that no plant is easy to kill if you
provide the conditions it requires.

Some are a bit more tolerant of the extremes of these conditions and flower
regardless (albeit not as spectacularly) others turn up their toes quite
quickly. Dendrobium X delicatum is probably one of the former.

Everyone should heed your advice re getting the growing conditions right (or
as close to ideal as possible). The problem arises in mixed collections
(which most of us have) in which case we grow to the commonest denominator
whilst trying to find micro climates for each plant within the constraints
of our growing areas. In some cases we eventually reach the conclusion that
we just can't provide the right conditions for a particular plant without
compromising the majority of the collection and give up on it or set up a
parallel growth area e.g. cold house/intermediate house.


"Ray" wrote in message
...
[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

Right on all counts (as usual) John.

That's actually one of the draws of orchid growing for me - figuring out the
range of conditions I can have within my overall situation.

--

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


"John Varigos" wrote in message
om...
Ray, you are quite correct to point out that no plant is easy to kill if
you provide the conditions it requires.

Some are a bit more tolerant of the extremes of these conditions and
flower regardless (albeit not as spectacularly) others turn up their toes
quite quickly. Dendrobium X delicatum is probably one of the former.

Everyone should heed your advice re getting the growing conditions right
(or as close to ideal as possible). The problem arises in mixed
collections (which most of us have) in which case we grow to the commonest
denominator whilst trying to find micro climates for each plant within the
constraints of our growing areas. In some cases we eventually reach the
conclusion that we just can't provide the right conditions for a
particular plant without compromising the majority of the collection and
give up on it or set up a parallel growth area e.g. cold
house/intermediate house.


"Ray" wrote in message
...
[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

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
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

Steffie, I'll get them scanned & emailed in the next couple of days.

On Sun, 23 Apr 2006 14:00:22 +0200, "wshl7" wrote:

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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Dave Gillingham
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