Species Orchid, Dendrobium, Noble Dendrobium

I've had this orchid for four years now and didn't know what kind it was since I inherited it from my Aunt after she passed on. This was ...Read Morehanging in her carport and looked to be dead, it almost went into the trash since it was just in a wire basket, the three tier kind you put vegetables in. I took it and hung it in my garden in a mostly shaded spot under a trellis and forgot about it. I was so surprised the first early spring when it busted out with flowers, which I posted the photos. My Aunt was 94 when she passed and even though she was an avid gardener, I don't think the orchid had much attention the past few years prior to her passing. The second spring I had the plant I really babied it and took it in when it dropped below 50 like I do my Phal orchids, kept it watered well and it looked a lovely healthy green, but only got a few flowers. So I researched and found it needs cool temps and can take as low as upper 30's, and DON'T water in the winter. Unfortunately I can't control water since mine is outdoors where rain hits it. I had many more blooms the following season, still nothing like the first year, but then we've had wetter winters than we normally do also. I can say that the more I neglect this orchid the more it blooms. I have some pieces the squirrels knocked off I just stuck in another wire basket with pieces of tree bark and they're doing wonderful, I only water in the summer with rain water when we've been dry for more than ten days, which is seldom. I have lots of buds again this early March.

This is one of the most common orchids, and that can be explained: this is the easiest orchid to multiply.

It has uncounta...Read Moreble varieties, with a large range of flower colors, most times with a round, dark red spot in the middle. The bloom is also abundant, with 3-7 flowers per inflorescence, and as many inflorescences as nodes on the long and thick pseudobulbs. One single pseudobulb can be covered with 30, 40, even 50 slightly fragrant flowers!

These pseudobulbs are erect, but can be procumbent in some varieties, reaching between 40-70cm long, with alternate, waxy leaves with an asymmetric tip. When it´s going to bloom, it usually loses the leaves.

It can be planted on horizontal surfaces (on a pot, for example), or vertical ones (trees, fiber plates, tree ferns), always on fiber and/or bark bits. Must be regularly watered. Can be planted under full sun to partial shade, and may tolerate light frosts. It can be propagated by several means: stem cuttings, rhizome division, seeds, simple layering, meristem cultivation, many ways at your choice.

I presently have two plants, one on a pot, which I got from a rhizome division, and the other on a fiber plate hanging in my porch, which I got from cutting a pseudobulb and laying it on the fiber - new offsets came from it and now are thriving.