I've had this little guy for two years now and all I've seen is 2 new pseudobulbs. One per year, and they've been successively smaller instead of larger. I've now got it in a western facing window with blinds tilted (the burns are from when I had it outside [easternly exposure]) it's now growing on the same inside table as a Croton and an Anthurium....It's gettng RO water, I've got it potted in a terra cotta pot with fine-medium cypress mulch as the growing medium. I've been trying to keep it moist but recently I read some where that they like to dry between waterings...The only fertilizer (and I don't really think it's fertilizer) I've been applying [weakly and with every watering] is Superthrive. All the cultural info I've found on the web has been vague and most of it seems geared toward Australian growers. I don't think it gets as humid here as it does in Sydney. On a humid day it gets up to 60% and that's less often these days thanks to urban sprawl...the usual is around 40% and on the frequent hot days (100F+) we get during the summer we're looking at humidity closer to 25%...It may be alittle better indoors but i'd imagine it's a marginal difference. Please advise...
Hmm. Pot looks a tad large. I'd say Be Patient. I have a cattleya that took over 5 years to bloom for me (it was worth it). Maybe your d. just needs to get older and bigger. And of course one can apply the list of The Usual Suspects: light; temperature; moisture; bugs/disease. As Sherlock Holmes advised, reject those explanations which are impossible. Whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth!
True That - Mr. Holmes..... Yes the pot is a bit large but it was the only terracotta pot that wasn't already in use... Patience IS the word with D. speciosum, the average for orchids in general is 7 years from germination to flower...D.speciosum I know far exceeds that time frame. And this one is still a youngster. I'm not really looking for flowers anytime soon, just some nice healthy progressive growth. These are supposed to grow to be Large plants... I've gotten conflicting culture accounts from other webpages and most of those are written by Australians (the plant's place of origin) and apparently aimed at Australian growers.I'm looking for culture tips for an American environment: I've heard they like the same LIGHT as Cattleyas and other Dendrobiums; I don't have a light meter but I have other house plants that I could use as indicators hence my mention of the Anthurium and the Croton. I've also read that they're one of the easier orchids to grow and very TEMPERATURE tolerant I've seen suggested ranges from 50F - 100F and that they can take some direct sun: so I sit it outside on my balcony this spring and as you can see it got alittle scorched. All the new pseudo bulbs are nice chubby almost round little things but they seem to be getting shorter. This species as an adult produces pseudo bulbs almost a meter tall!! I don't expect that size anytime soon either.... but it would be nice if they could make it past 2"tall... It hasn't managed that in the two years I've had it.
Nice to see that a local orchid has spread....even to Dallas, Texas. I'm in Sydney Australia and possibly your orchid is a 'compact' version of D. speciosum, possibly Dendrobium speciosum var. capricornicum. This dendrobe varies enormously from huge plants with 1 metre plus canes to the 'compact' variety found in the North of Australia. It is found all along the east coast of Australia on rocks (Sydney Rock Lily) and on trees. Climate varies from cool in Victoria to tropical in north of Queensland, which is possibly where your plant has come from. Good luck.
I forgot to add a link to D. speciosum var capricornum, this one's in the UK :(= http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/showthread.php?t=164801
Thank you... it may very well be so I'll look into it. I purchased it , however, from a very reliable source as Dendrobium speciosum var. curvicaule....... and they sold/I bought it young...curvicaule is really the one I wanted...
