I'm SO excited
 

I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them, and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been repotted
in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe 18" tall
(not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the beginning of
spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?
--

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

I'm SO excited
 

I don't grow speciosum, but your patience deserves a *huzzah*, LOL! I
suspect that Dave Gillingham or John Varigos will have more information.

Diana

"Ray B" wrote in message
news:FqQjj.10720$ac7.79@trndny03...
I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them, and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been
repotted in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe
18" tall (not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the
beginning of spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?
--

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

I'm SO excited
 

Ray B wrote:
I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them, and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been repotted
in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe 18" tall
(not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the beginning of
spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?


That's the Pointer Sisters, isn't it? Guidance: Turn the volume 'up'.

OH.

You meant orchid advice.... I have none.

I've been lusting after a Den speciosum for about a year and am
intending to get something similar in July at the next SBOE sale.
There's a great page about speciosums (I sent the link to Dave
Gillingham earlier) on the taxonomy and habitats.. but that's probably
not what you are looking for. When I get back to my other computer I'll
forward the link to you.

Personally if its spiking under your neglect DO NOT change anything!
Why encourage it, LOL!
K

I'm SO excited
 

Kudos to you Ray, now you will see that it's a teenager & no turning back. I
think it's neat that you have
had it from seedling.
You will get more spikes every year from now on. Mine blooms faithfully in
Feb/March.

I was astounded to see them in Santa Barbara last year with approx. 3
pseudos for $150.00
My only guidance is "enjoy"
Cheers Wendy

"Ray B" wrote in message
news:FqQjj.10720$ac7.79@trndny03...
I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them, and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been
repotted in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe
18" tall (not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the
beginning of spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?
--

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

I'm SO excited
 

Congratulations, Ray. Dunno about guidance. Mine grow & flower (or not)
according to their own peculiar preferences. The general wisdom seems to be
that they like a cold (by Aussie standards) winter to promote flowering.

For more info on the species, the reference Kath gave you is a good one. I had
scanned & emailed a lot of my stuff to her; then she found that site that had
much of what I had sent her on it.

John may be able to tell you more. BTW, look at the Cedarvale site:
http://www.cedarvaleorchids.com

Ross grows beautiful speciosums, & his website has cultural info on it.


On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:13:57 GMT, "Ray B" wrote:

I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them, and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been repotted
in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe 18" tall
(not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the beginning of
spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

I'm SO excited
 

Thanks to all.

Dave, I was about to get rid of it, but your commentary a while back
encouraged me to stick with it.

--

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


"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
Congratulations, Ray. Dunno about guidance. Mine grow & flower (or not)
according to their own peculiar preferences. The general wisdom seems to
be
that they like a cold (by Aussie standards) winter to promote flowering.

For more info on the species, the reference Kath gave you is a good one.
I had
scanned & emailed a lot of my stuff to her; then she found that site that
had
much of what I had sent her on it.

John may be able to tell you more. BTW, look at the Cedarvale site:
http://www.cedarvaleorchids.com

Ross grows beautiful speciosums, & his website has cultural info on it.


On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:13:57 GMT, "Ray B" wrote:

I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them, and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been
repotted
in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe 18" tall
(not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the beginning of
spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

I'm SO excited
 

On Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:28:08 GMT, "Ray B" wrote:

Thanks to all.

Dave, I was about to get rid of it, but your commentary a while back
encouraged me to stick with it.

I'm glad it worked out for you, Ray.
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

I'm SO excited
 

Here's the list of articles on the Den speciosum complex.

http://members.optusnet.com.au/elanbee/Articles.html

Don't give up on the plant! 'Orchids' ran 2 great pictures of SBOE's huge
CCM (99pts!) plant. One was of it being loaded into the back of a pickup
truck to go to the show where it got the CCM, and the second was a few
issues later where a fellow had it as a 3 growth plant sitting on a
bookshelf in his home. IIRC the plant was traded from on person to another
until it wound up at the SBOE, and the rest was history.

Its funny how some of us still have Rod Venger plants. I still have a
Masdevallia tuerckhemii. Imagine that in my dry and poor waterer
conditions.

K Barrett


"Ray B" wrote in message
news:Ya%jj.41068$UX2.13279@trnddc08...
Thanks to all.

Dave, I was about to get rid of it, but your commentary a while back
encouraged me to stick with it.

--

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


"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
Congratulations, Ray. Dunno about guidance. Mine grow & flower (or not)
according to their own peculiar preferences. The general wisdom seems to
be
that they like a cold (by Aussie standards) winter to promote flowering.

For more info on the species, the reference Kath gave you is a good one.
I had
scanned & emailed a lot of my stuff to her; then she found that site that
had
much of what I had sent her on it.

John may be able to tell you more. BTW, look at the Cedarvale site:
http://www.cedarvaleorchids.com

Ross grows beautiful speciosums, & his website has cultural info on it.


On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:13:57 GMT, "Ray B" wrote:

I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them,
and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has
grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been
repotted
in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe 18"
tall
(not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the beginning of
spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

I'm SO excited
 

Well done, Ray. It is a given in Melbourne that if you are on the wrong
side of 50 you should never buy a D. speciosum seedling as you might not
live long enough to see it flower. They need to be quite a few years old
before they bless you with some blooms (I have seen ones which are 15 +
years old before first flowering) and even then it is no guarantee that they
will flower every year. I grow mine outside under a jacaranda tree
(deciduous) where they get full sun in winter and dappled light in summer
and any rain that comes their way. Temperatures here get down to around 3 to
4°C during winter and as high as 42°C in summer. There is a view like Dave
said, that they need a cold spell during winter to flower but I have been
unable to verify that this is so. It seems that when mine are having a good
flowering year everybody else's plants are as well (bugger!) so there may be
some truth to climatic conditions initiating flowering. People talk about
it either being a good or bad year for speciosums.

Geographically, D. speciosum is found from the NSW/Victorian border all the
way up the east coast of Australia and there is considerable debate as to
whether they are all the same species. Weather wise, the southern ones
would be exposed to wet winters and dry, hot summers but as you move north
into the tropics, this changes and you get wet moderate temperatures (mid
30s °C), high humidity summers and dry mild winters. So it is really
difficult to recommend a watering regimen without knowing where the plant
came from and most people have no idea if they bought their plant without
provenance. You only know for sure if the plant is wild collected and that
is usually illegal.

I look forward to seeing the photos of the flowers.

Cheers
John




"Dave Gillingham" wrote in message
...
Congratulations, Ray. Dunno about guidance. Mine grow & flower (or not)
according to their own peculiar preferences. The general wisdom seems to
be
that they like a cold (by Aussie standards) winter to promote flowering.

For more info on the species, the reference Kath gave you is a good one.
I had
scanned & emailed a lot of my stuff to her; then she found that site that
had
much of what I had sent her on it.

John may be able to tell you more. BTW, look at the Cedarvale site:
http://www.cedarvaleorchids.com

Ross grows beautiful speciosums, & his website has cultural info on it.


On Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:13:57 GMT, "Ray B" wrote:

I am not a grower of dens. I'm not particularly fond of most of them, and
the unique ones seem to be outside of my skill set. I do not give plants
"rests".

MANY moons ago (maybe 120 or more, actually) Rod Venger sent me a Den.
speciosum seedling in a 2" pot. Despite my relative neglect, it has grown
and grown and grown. It is currently in an 8" basket (hasn't been
repotted
in years) hung up with the vandas, with the largest growths maybe 18" tall
(not counting the leaves) and today I actually noticed the beginning of
spikes!!!! 2 on one, one on another.

Not a specimen by anyone's standards, but I will give it credit for
tolerance.

Any guidance?
Dave Gillingham
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To email me remove the .private from my email address.

I'm SO excited
 

I'll tell you what, John. It sounds like this puppy is getting similar
treatment - from a light perspective, anyway.

As I said, it's hung up near the vandas, and I grow with no shade cloth.
The GH is, however, located near a 40 meter tall tulip poplar that filters
the midday sun in the summer. Right now it's in full sun, if you want to
call it that this far north.

It may see temperatures as high as 40°C - usually not, although close to
that once you include solar heating if the plant tissues - but never below
about 10°-15° (although we did have a power outage about 3 weeks ago, and
the GH dropped to about 5° before I got the backup heater on).

I feed everything at every watering (125 ppm N using a 13-3-15-8Ca-2Mg
fertilizer), and didn't know if they got any kind of rest in nature (I doubt
those in your northeast do).

Over the last few years, it typically saw three or four growths start in the
summer, but it has a single new on right now, as well. It's amazing how
fast they grow.
--

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

how can you be excited about that?
if memory servers (remember i drink a fair bit) the last thing i got excited about in the yard was when i was smoking a fag and i noticed a cat poo the shape of a dog turd. Oh how I laughed.

ROLFA

Many Thanks

LOL thats hilarious

I'm SO excited

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's the list of articles on the Den speciosum complex.

Its funny how some of us still have Rod Venger plants. I still have a
Masdevallia tuerckhemii. Imagine that in my dry and poor waterer
conditions.

K Barrett

What on earth is a Masdevallia tuerckhemii, I think you best go to the doc's for that. Ah well that's what you catch if you start ****ing up the wrong trees on your way home after a night on the lash.