# Dendrobium moniliforme 'Benikida' & 'Benikomachi'



## naoki (Apr 28, 2016)

I pretended to know what I'm talking about , and wrote up a little bit about 2 varieties of Dendrobium moniliforme in my Orchid Borealis blog post(link here). To be honest, I'm relatively new to D. moniliforme culture, but I happen to read Japanese, so I decided to share some info I collected from Japanese web sites. I also attempted to explain some of the special vocabulary describing the features, but this might have made it difficult to read. Hopefully, some info is useful to some of you. It is not as popular as Vanda (Neofinetia) falcata, but it is equally addicting and fascinating.

These were flowering earlier (Jan-March), but I haven't had time to post.

Following 2 photos are Benikida (紅木田):



Dendrobium moniliforme 'Benikida' (紅木田) on Flickr




Dendrobium moniliforme 'Benikida' (紅木田) on Flickr

Following 2 photos are Benikomachi (紅小町).



Dendrobium moniliforme 'Benikomachi' (紅小町) on Flickr




Dendrobium moniliforme 'Benikomachi' (紅小町) on Flickr


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## MattWoelfsen (Apr 28, 2016)

Lovely, appealing, and as you say, Naoki, totally addicting! Well that last comment "totally addicting"--not so much for me. 

I have a dozen of these plants. I am still trying to figure out how to keep them from dropping leaves. Right now, I have many shriveled, twisted, pencil looking canes, with a tiny leaf or two hanging on the top. Some canes have little keiki hanging on for dear life.

Can you share your culture?


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## naoki (Apr 28, 2016)

Matt, I think you probably know better than I do. I grow it with Neo. In the winter, they are under T8 LED in a grow tent. I think that it is around 1000fc, which is probably at the low end for this species (mine don't completely stop growing in the winter). 65/55F max/min. RH around 70-90%. In the spring/fall, I keep them near the S. facing window, where they get direct sun. Probably 75/65F, RH fluctuates quite a bit but 45-60%. In the summer, I keep them outside. 85/65F. Fair amount of direct sun (but I'm in Alaska). I'm familiar the climate of their native habitat, and my condition isn't similar to the natural condition. I water them when the media completely dry (about once a week in the winter, and every 3-5 days for the other). 30ppmN MSU about once per week. But as I mentioned, I'm too new with D. moniliforme. Mines are mostly easier varieties, and I think that it is tough to kill this species. I would like to learn how to make them look nice like you said (minimize leaf drop, adjust light to get the right amount of leaf spacing, pseudobulb size, variegation intensity etc). Most of mines also became only top two leaves (tenba) over the winter. So I don't know the special tricks for Chouseiran. They started to move (making new pseudobulbs) a couple weeks ago, around the same time when Neo started to move.


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## Linus_Cello (Apr 28, 2016)

Thanks for the blog post. I have two of these (one variegated and one green), and more interested in growing these as outdoor plants almost year round (zone 6b/7a). Right now, no flowers, but am growing them with my cymbidiums (high light, and bring them in when temps below 40 F; I'll try experimenting with year round outdoors when I divide the plants).


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## NYEric (Apr 28, 2016)

Linus_Cello said:


> I'll try experimenting with year round outdoors when I divide the plants).


Cool! :evil: Send us photos after the snow storms please!


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## naoki (Apr 28, 2016)

Linus, it would be interesting to see if you can grow them outside. I'm guessing that it can handle winter in DC area. This species seems to grow in northern Japan (Iwate Prefecture), but as Tom commented in one of his posts, it might be growing really close to the shore at the range limit. Iwate is around Zone 7-8, but it seems that DC is warmer than Iwate.


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## Secundino (Apr 28, 2016)

Lovely plants! Thanks for sharing!


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## SlipperFan (Apr 28, 2016)

Secundino said:


> Lovely plants! Thanks for sharing!



I agree. Nice photos, also. Thanks, also for the Blog. Hopefully, there are tips that will help me grow mine, also.


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## Lanmark (Apr 28, 2016)

I like these too though admittedly not as much as I appreciate Neos. Still, I wish I could master the skills needed to successfully cultivate this species. To date I have not done so.


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## abax (Apr 28, 2016)

Such beautiful flowers on such ugly plants. What
a contrast. I've never seen examples of these
Dens. that had nice looking leaves and canes. I
had no idea they could be grown in the same
way as Neos. Fancy that.


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## Ozpaph (Apr 29, 2016)

so nice with the varigation


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## naoki (Apr 29, 2016)

SlipperFan said:


> Hopefully, there are tips that will help me grow mine, also.





Lanmark said:


> Still, I wish I could master the skills needed to successfully cultivate this species. To date I have not done so.



I've seen some Japanese magazine articles about D. moniliforme show. When they are grown to perfection, they look quite amazing. Those masters seem to create a miniature world of forests on a small pot. It's kind of like Bonsai. It doesn't seem to be about the size, but it seems to be more about the balance. I feel like that it is a tough species (maybe I'm wrong), but I'm guessing that making them look nice requires a lot of attention. Here are links to a couple shows (in Japanese, but lots of photos):
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/rannokuni/e/db2e45df459331c9885f960a468356e6
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/rannokuni/e/5841ed7fb3071ae4f2d70f6e3f67ecfa
http://blog.goo.ne.jp/rannokuni/e/021288e2082c415cf8733d4b9820f140
http://www.ishidaseikaen.com/webshop/user_data/chouseiranrengokai.php



abax said:


> Such beautiful flowers on such ugly plants.



Well, I still don't know how to grow them nicely! But check out the link above, and see what you think. Some of them look like bonsai to me.



Ozpaph said:


> so nice with the varigation


I should have taken photos when the leaves were nicer. Maybe this summer. I used to dislike variegated orchids because they look like spider plants (Chlorophytum comosum) especially with Neo. But I started to enjoy it.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Apr 29, 2016)

Nicely grown and flowered Naoki. I just went to a small orchid show with some fairly nice D. moniliforme - in fact I'm making a video about it (big surprise). Those pretty plants with the good leaves are all of course grown indoors year round. If you live in a place with a real winter, then they will drop most of their leaves each winter. Mine are kept outside so look barren by spring.

Linus Cello, as for growing them outside in the DC area, IMO, not likely without serious protection. I can't say that I know how much cold they can take, but I guess not that much. Here they grow up to at least 1000 meters elevation, so endure pretty punishing weather at times - intense drying winds, snow, and temperatures well below freezing. That said, humidity is high year round (80%>), rainfall is very high and serious cold is not consistent. Still, it would be interesting to see how they do for you.

Random cultural comments. These are easiest to grow mounted. They need absolute drainage of their roots, which are really small and wiry. I would avoid growing them in any easily decomposing organic material such as bark. They do well in sphagnum, but you really have to keep an eye on the roots - if the moss gets funky, they will decline. On the other hand, if they are mounted with a sphagnum pad, they can grow that way for years with little maintenance. It would be interesting to try them in coir. I have one in pure fine grained pumice, and it does OK.


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## Linus_Cello (Apr 29, 2016)

KyushuCalanthe said:


> Linus Cello, as for growing them outside in the DC area, IMO, not likely without serious protection. I can't say that I know how much cold they can take, but I guess not that much. Here they grow up to at least 1000 meters elevation, so endure pretty punishing weather at times - intense drying winds, snow, and temperatures well below freezing. That said, humidity is high year round (80%>), rainfall is very high and serious cold is not consistent. Still, it would be interesting to see how they do for you.
> 
> Random cultural comments. These are easiest to grow mounted. They need absolute drainage of their roots, which are really small and wiry. I would avoid growing them in any easily decomposing organic material such as bark. They do well in sphagnum, but you really have to keep an eye on the roots - if the moss gets funky, they will decline. On the other hand, if they are mounted with a sphagnum pad, they can grow that way for years with little maintenance. It would be interesting to try them in coir. I have one in pure fine grained pumice, and it does OK.



Again, for now, they come in to the garage when it gets below 40 F. Maybe if I try "year round" outdoors, I'll mulch/protect.
Has anyone tired this s/h? I have one that I need to either mount on a sphagnum pad or pot s/h.


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## SlipperFan (Apr 29, 2016)

Thanks, naoki -- I'm going to really take a look at how I'm growing mine. They don't look anything like those!


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## abax (Apr 29, 2016)

I've never seen any anywhere that look that good. I can
see what you mean by balance being important and they
do resemble bonsai.


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## naoki (Apr 30, 2016)

Thank you for the tips, Tom, and we'll be looking forward to seeing your video! I tried to grow them under light in winter, so they don't drop leaves. But I think that I brought them in too late and they have experienced cold before I bring them in. So they had their mind set to drop leaves. Because of this weird season they experienced this year, my Benikida flowered twice (around Christmas, and around March).


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## Happypaphy7 (Aug 24, 2017)

Reviving this thread. 

My questions is if you keep them warm year around to appreciate nice leaves, would they flower in the spring, or is flowering sort of a sacrifice since leaves are the main focus for such practice??


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## blondie (Aug 24, 2017)

A stunning flower I like the way your growing and posted it but I'm not a fan of the variegated leafs I feel its a bit strange but thats me personally.

Lovely presentation of the plant and flower congrats.


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## Linus_Cello (Aug 24, 2017)

Happypaphy7 said:


> Reviving this thread.
> 
> My questions is if you keep them warm year around to appreciate nice leaves, would they flower in the spring, or is flowering sort of a sacrifice since leaves are the main focus for such practice??



I'm a newbie to these, but I have them outside. It looked like it was going to flower in the spring, but the buds blasted. Now it looks it will flower in the fall.


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## naoki (Aug 25, 2017)

Happypaphy7 said:


> My questions is if you keep them warm year around to appreciate nice leaves, would they flower in the spring, or is flowering sort of a sacrifice since leaves are the main focus for such practice??



I don't have enough experience to know the answer, hp7. But some of Japanese people are more focused on leaves. For examples, in Neo, they remove the flower spikes, so they don't waste energy for flowers.



blondie said:


> A stunning flower I like the way your growing and posted it but I'm not a fan of the variegated leafs I feel its a bit strange but thats me personally.



I also wasn't so interested in variegation, neither. I used to think that they were unnatural (well, they are basically genetic disease, like albinism). But after I started to grow a couple of them, I can see why it is fun to grow them. Basically, we can observe the changes, and in some cases, how you grow them can influence the expression. So every leaf expansion, or new cane, you have some excitement.


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## Dandrobium (Aug 25, 2017)

naoki said:


> ... in Neo, they remove the flower spikes, so they don't waste energy for flowers.



What a travesty!! 

I really like the delicate colouring on the lip. Nice plants!


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## Happypaphy7 (Aug 27, 2017)

naoki said:


> I don't have enough experience to know the answer, hp7. But some of Japanese people are more focused on leaves. For examples, in Neo, they remove the flower spikes, so they don't waste energy for flowers.
> 
> 
> 
> I also wasn't so interested in variegation, neither. I used to think that they were unnatural (well, they are basically genetic disease, like albinism). But after I started to grow a couple of them, I can see why it is fun to grow them. Basically, we can observe the changes, and in some cases, how you grow them can influence the expression. So every leaf expansion, or new cane, you have some excitement.



When I buy them, they have leaves on all the canes, old and new.
They tend to quickly lose them under my care. lol


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## MattWoelfsen (Aug 28, 2017)

Happypaphy7 said:


> When I buy them, they have leaves on all the canes, old and new.
> 
> They tend to quickly lose them under my care. lol





My experience too! So I have decided to enjoy everyone else's success and not try to grow these plants.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk


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## naoki (Aug 28, 2017)

Mines do that too. I've wondered that they may drop leaves more for the first year due to the change in the environment.

They do seem to be quite sensitive to overwatering, and I lost quite a few with sphagnum mound without empty space inside. Especially, some of those highly variegated ones are easy to kill. Flower varieties (and more "Classic" ones like Benikida) seem to be tougher.


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## SlipperFan (Aug 31, 2017)

I've been growing them, with some success, either mounted or in baskets with a bit of coconut fiber wrapped around their roots.


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