Response to Cloudswinger-Dends/So. Fla/Watering

[Sandy4453]

Didn't want to hijack the thread this was originally posted in (Which orchids in your collection get a winter rest) by posting back there but wanted to respond.

Originally Posted by Sandy4453

All of mine to a lesser or bigger degree, get a rest from the water/fertilizer intake than what they receive in the warmer months.

Dends that were getting watered every 5 or so days in summer, get watered every 10-14 days in winter - no fertilizer.

Originally Posted by cloudswinger

See, now I know you live somewhere pretty close to me, and I was watering my dens daily over the summer and I had crazy amounts of growth. I got 3 new bulbs on a Den. chrysotoxum, without much fertilizer. I've since turned off the sprinkler/mister but it's still raining daily. My plan is to make sure the the Dens get water once a week in Nov/Dec and then once every couple of weeks in Jan/Feb. And there are some dens that do not want to dry out for more than a day or two during dry season, so I need to separate those out.

Cloudswinger, to sum this up, since we both live in the same area, both growing outdoors (mine are on a patio), I might presume that the growing medium we both use, is different, possibly? I'm growing my Dends in bark and if I watered every day, I'd have a lot of failing Dends. (have about 20). I know a professional grower in Miami who pots all Dends in charcoal, only. He waters every day. Also, non organic such as LECA (ie., Hydroton) might also call for daily water in the middle of summer. All my Dends doubled in size (height and bulb count) over the summer and I've got several that are still growing more psbulbs. The one I'm most amazed with is my Dendrobium Lorrie Mortimer. This plant has not rested since I got it last December. It grew 3 psbulbs over summer and, 2 more are growing now. It's gotten so huge that I water it right where it is and place a basin under the shelf. It's way too top heavy and I'm scared of doing damage to it by lifting and bringing it to it's watering basin

So, when the weather gets approx. 20 degrees cooler during the days (around Nov-Dec) is when reduction in water begins to about every other week for most of my Dends except the deciduous and this one, my antelope Dend., Lorrie Mortimer. Here it is...

#1. I immediately repotted this when I received it. Way too top heavy for the 2" pot it came in.
#2. May '08, after growing a psbulb and first set of blooms.
Pic #3. This evening. It's now growing 2 more bulbs. It's a monster!

[quiltergal]

Wow Sandy! That's some very impressive growth. I have a Den in the Formosae group that is doing something similar. It bloomed it's brains out in the spring, then grew 2 new canes, and is now blooming again off an old cane...just two flowers but still. It's supposed to get a "pause" in water and fert in the fall, but so far it hasn't and it's rapidly filling it's 4.5" pot.

[cloudswinger]

Maybe that's it. I have mostly young Dens, and they're in a aliflor, charcoal and CHC mix. My plants in 4" and bigger pots are in bark(unless they have fine roots, then same as the seedlings), and they're all growing fine too. I'm going to switch to a hydroton, CHC mix when the bark breaks down. But my bark is fairly new, so it still stays pretty dry.