Dendrobium Cobber 'Yes Please'

[emydura]

It is time I started growing this better as it would look nice as a big specimen.

David

 

[e-spice]

Very pretty! I have this clone but have not managed to flower it. I normally do really well with dendrobiums but kingianum and its hybrids have never performed well for me. Care to give me a little cultural advice?

e-spice

 

[etex]

Very cool blooms-I love the colors!!

 

[goldenrose]

:clap: Cool! Colorful! :clap: Would make a nice specimen, if you're getting a spike, at least you're on the right track!

 

[NYEric]

Looks good.

 

[Hera]

Awesome! We don't see these too often.

 

[jewel]

hooray for dendrobiums!

 

[SlipperFan]

Oh, I'm in love...

 

[biothanasis]

Great colours!

 

[Roy]

This is a nice Dend' David. A specimen will look good.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

I love Aussie plants in general and these dendrob crosses are just fantastic!

 

[e-spice]

Very pretty! I have this clone but have not managed to flower it. I normally do really well with dendrobiums but kingianum and its hybrids have never performed well for me. Care to give me a little cultural advice?

e-spice

Ewwkay - I guess you don't care to give any cultural advice?

 

[emydura]

Ewwkay - I guess you don't care to give any cultural advice?

I'm really sorry e-spice. I kept meaning to get back to this, its been in the back of my mind. In fact I started writing a response and got distracted and haven't got back to it.

I don't grow a lot of these, so I'm not sure in a position to give advice. This plant in particular is not as doing as well as it should. I really need to build a greenhouse for these so I can meet there requirements. The problem I have is that if I put them in the glasshouse with my Paphs it is just too warm. It totally stuffs up there flowering pattern. They often put out spikes at the weirdest times and then more times than not they abort. I generally grow them outside but our extremely cold winters (below freezing) are just a bit to cold causing them to struggle. They are also very susceptible to pests - slugs and grubs etc.

As a rule this group is pretty easy to grow as long as you get the conditions close to right. Kingianum is widely grown in Australia, even by the general public, under a wide range of conditions. It is a very tough and resilient plant. They are often very neglected but they still put on a great show. Most of the hybrids are even tougher. They like bright light. The brighter the light the better they flower (30 to 50% shade - closer to 30% the better). They also flower much better when temperatures drop down close to frost for a few weeks in autumn-winter. Keep them drier in winter as well. Use a well drained mix with coarse bark. Use a bit of fertiliser but don't over do it. If anything you could kill them with kindness.

What problems are you having?

David

 

[e-spice]

Hi David,

I sincerely thank you for taking the time to write me back. If you look back through some of my posts, you can see I can grow and bloom a lot of dendrobiums okay. I can get kingianum and many of its hybrids to grow very well. For whatever reason they just won't bloom much at all for me. I might get an occasional single flower. Very frustrating.

I grow them S/H in my basement under strong HID lights. I even tried to chill them last winter to no avail. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Many thanks again for replying David,
e-spice

I'm really sorry e-spice. I kept meaning to get back to this, its been in the back of my mind. In fact I started writing a response and got distracted and haven't got back to it.

I don't grow a lot of these, so I'm not sure in a position to give advice. This plant in particular is not as doing as well as it should. I really need to build a greenhouse for these so I can meet there requirements. The problem I have is that if I put them in the glasshouse with my Paphs it is just too warm. It totally stuffs up there flowering pattern. They often put out spikes at the weirdest times and then more times than not they abort. I generally grow them outside but our extremely cold winters (below freezing) are just a bit to cold causing them to struggle. They are also very susceptible to pests - slugs and grubs etc.

As a rule this group is pretty easy to grow as long as you get the conditions close to right. Kingianum is widely grown in Australia, even by the general public, under a wide range of conditions. It is a very tough and resilient plant. They are often very neglected but they still put on a great show. Most of the hybrids are even tougher. They like bright light. The brighter the light the better they flower (30 to 50% shade - closer to 30% the better). They also flower much better when temperatures drop down close to frost for a few weeks in autumn-winter. Keep them drier in winter as well. Use a well drained mix with coarse bark. Use a bit of fertiliser but don't over do it. If anything you could kill them with kindness.

What problems are you having?

David

 

[emydura]

Hi David,

I sincerely thank you for taking the time to write me back. If you look back through some of my posts, you can see I can grow and bloom a lot of dendrobiums okay. I can get kingianum and many of its hybrids to grow very well. For whatever reason they just won't bloom much at all for me. I might get an occasional single flower. Very frustrating.

I grow them S/H in my basement under strong HID lights. I even tried to chill them last winter to no avail. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Many thanks again for replying David,
e-spice

The lack of flowering will most likely be down to either light or temperature. It is interesting you grow them under lights. Australians generally don't grow orchids under lights. So I'm not sure how many people would have grown them this way. I do wonder whether such a light loving group of orchids such as the Australian Dendrobiums would get enough light. The other thing with growing under lights is that the environmental conditions tend to be pretty stable. I think Australian Dendrobiums need distinct seasonal changes as a queue for flowering. A temperature drop in winter as well as shorter period of light. I think this is important to get that mass flowering all at once. Otherwise you find you just get the odd flower spike throughout the year which happens to me when I try and grow them in the heated glasshouse with my Paphs.

I'm not sure about your growing conditions. Are you able to grow them outside during summer and autumn? Maybe bring them inside if it gets too cold in winter. You need to be getting temperatures down to 5oC or so to initiate flowering.

David

 

[JeanLux]

Crazy colors!!! :drool: Jean

 

[e-spice]

Thanks for the advice David. I'll try keeping them outside until it gets really cold and see if that helps.

e-spice

The lack of flowering will most likely be down to either light or temperature. It is interesting you grow them under lights. Australians generally don't grow orchids under lights. So I'm not sure how many people would have grown them this way. I do wonder whether such a light loving group of orchids such as the Australian Dendrobiums would get enough light. The other thing with growing under lights is that the environmental conditions tend to be pretty stable. I think Australian Dendrobiums need distinct seasonal changes as a queue for flowering. A temperature drop in winter as well as shorter period of light. I think this is important to get that mass flowering all at once. Otherwise you find you just get the odd flower spike throughout the year which happens to me when I try and grow them in the heated glasshouse with my Paphs.

I'm not sure about your growing conditions. Are you able to grow them outside during summer and autumn? Maybe bring them inside if it gets too cold in winter. You need to be getting temperatures down to 5oC or so to initiate flowering.

David

 

[NYEric]

I have a bunch of big dendro. kingianum hybrids but hae yet to bloom them. I will put them outside this Fall-Winter for sure.