Callista type Dendrobiums - Orchid Board

SaraJean · #1 03-27-2018, 03:57 PM

So two of my Callista types are in bloom and they are giving my favorite section of Dendrobiums, the Latouria, a run for their money. The cascading flowers, while only lasting a week or two, are so extremely eye catching and beautiful. I have 5 different species, 2 are not doing so good but more on that later, and I think I will be buying a few more. I wish I would have gotten a picture of the ones that a few people brought in to my last orchid society meeting, those babies were massive and stunning. Half of a table was filled with these waterfalls of yellow blooms.
Besides, anything that does well in my climate with little fuss (9+ months of sweltering heat and humidity. Good times!) gets a huge thumbs up from me!

Callista type Dendrobiums by Sara , on Flickr

Three of the 5 spikes are blooming on my Den. farmeri, pink form. The petals are so delicate looking and the light blush around the edges is charming. The bee, that beat up several of the flowers yesterday desperately trying to get up in there, must have agreed with me. It stayed outside all winter, with the exception of our one week of freezing temps. I kept it up high under the balcony where it got about 5 of direct sun, plenty of air moment, was protected from the rain, and watered once every week or two on the warmer days.

Dendrobium farmeri pink form by Sara, on Flickr

The Den. densiflora also sent out two spikes, surprisingly. This was a free, rootless, back bulb division that I got in September. I tossed it on a its side on a shelf in my greenhouse and forgot about it. I figured I would check for new growths in the spring. It got dripped on daily when I watered my other orchids, received lots of sun with intermediate temps at night, and ignored. I noticed the spikes about a month ago, wired it into a basket with some LECA, and its blooming beautifully and putting out two new growths. I adore the egg yolk colored pine cone of flowers on this one.

Dendrobium densiflorum by Sara, on Flickr

---------- Post added at 02:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:29 PM ----------

Now for my two that are not doing so good. First up is my Den. jenkinsii. I am shocked this poor thing is still alive. I had put it in a bowl for a good long soak, got called in for a work emergency, didn't get home till three days later, went to sleep, and then realized this poor thing had been submerged for over 80 hours. oops. There was a lot of die back on the top of this orchid, but it never really seemed like it had issues other than me smothering it (no squishyness, spreading black areas, ooziness, or foul smells) I left it alone and watered it a couple of times a week in the winter. Now I see signs of life with several new growths, so I am planning on cleaning this guy up, getting rid of the dead stuff and mounting it on a piece of cypress so I can manage it a bit better.

Dendrobium jenkinsii by Sara , on Flickr

Dendrobium jenkinsii by Sara , on Flickr

Second problem child is the Den. lindleyi ( aggregatum). This was on the raffle table and I thought I would try it. It's in rough shape, but not terrible. I have no idea how long it has been in that pot or what the roots look like, so I was not expecting it to bloom this year. I need to bust that pot open and toss it in a basket like my Den. densiflora. It's packed against the edges so tight that I can't even see where new growth might emerge from. The older bulbs are a brownish/red color but I believe that is from the high light I gave it this winter as they are still very firm. I grew this with my Den. farmeri- up high, lots of sun, watered once a week or two on warm days, and protected from the frost. Hopefully this one will recover nicely this year

Dendrobium aggregatum by Sara, on Flickr

Dendrobium aggregatum by Sara , on Flickr

Regelian · #2 03-28-2018, 03:10 AM

Sara, nice work! The plants are looking very good. I find these some of the most interesting Dendrobium, despite the fleeting life of the individual flowers. I do find that strong plants will rebloom over a period of a few weeks to months, giving good reason to grow them to specimen size.

A word on Section Callista, which is no longer valid. Although the last word is yet to be said, it is currently divided into multiple sections: Section Densiflora, Section Holochrysa, possibly more (depending on author). The Section Densiflora, to which the obvious, D. densiflora, amabile, D. thyrsiflorum, etc., as well as D. lindleyi and D. jenkinsii belong, plus Section Holochrysa, which would be for D. moschatum, D. dixanthum, D. fimbriatum, and so on. The latest molecular studies are supporting Section densiflora well, but the Section Holochrysa is less consistent. From the studies I've read, it may actually need to be subsumed into Section Densiflora or Dendrobium. Time will tell.

I, too, still love the Schelpe and Stewart book Dendrobiums, as there is so much useful information in it, but the Sections and cultural groups are out-dated. Not a big deal, and certainly the authors knew this would happen, as nothing is written in stone and (hopefully) we never stop learning.

I mention these changes, as I see you are getting pretty deep into the Dendrobiums..... and I can't say I blame you. They are truly worth the effort and there is still much to de discovered, especially in the Densiflora group. Every D. farmeri I have is different! And they are all starting to spike. Joy!
Jamie