Hello from Holland!

[JandenHeld]

Hi Sicco,
Yes, that's right, they don't like direct sunlight. Which species do you grow?

[Sicco]

Hoi Jan,

I have some Australian sunlovers, as far as I know anyway, Dendrobium speciosum, D. kingianum, D. x delicatum that kind of plants.

[JandenHeld]

Is your D. speciosum flowering every year? Mine, a big plant with 40 cm bulbs, does not even make new bulbs every year and flowers only every third or fourth year!

[Sicco]

No they do not, I have a few of them, and I have flowers every year (and sometimes only three or four at a flowerstem), but not from every single plant. As far as I can see they produce at least one bulb every year but I must admit that I do not keep track of the production of bulbs. Sometimes they produce keikis where they should have produced flowers, so something was wrong in the way I have cultivated them.
I have three D. speciosum plants, big enough to give flowers, but only one (the smallest) has produced flowers once (till now). I hope to get some more flowers next season, till now no traces of any activity on this subject.

[jessetukkers]

hello jan,

i`m living in denekamp, it`s not so far of zutphen, my specality ar stanhopea and gongora, i have totally around 450 orchid plants and i`m very busy now with the building of my new greenhouse. a big one for an hobbyist, 6.50 mtr by 4.50 mtr, the stans are growing too good..... greetz from holland!!!!

[Sicco]

Hi Jesse,

I wish you a lot of success with your plants, although I am afraid that you have to double your greenhouse within a few years.

[JandenHeld]

That's a large greenhouse for sure. What species of Stanhopea and Gongora do you grow?

[jessetukkers]

hello, i have the following stans,
Stanhopea:

anfracta
avicula
candida
cirrhata
connata
costaricensis
ecornuta
embreii
florida
frymirei
gibbosa
grandiflora
graveolens
greerii
guttulata
haselowiana
hernandezii
impressa
inodora
insignis
jenischiana
lietzei
maculosa
maduroi
martiana
napoensis
oculata
peruviana
platyceras
posadae
pulla
reichenbachiana
saccata
shuttleworthii
stevensonii
tigrina
tricornis
wardii
warscewicziana

also i heave about 10 hybrids or so

the gongora`s need first to bloom, but it i guess about 70 plants in about 15 species

greets jesse

[JandenHeld]

Well, Jesse, that's quite an impressive list! I now understand why you're building a larger greenhouse.
About Stanhopeas: I have an embreei which used to flower each year, but didn't do so this year after I transferred it from a basket to a plasic pot. Do you think it maybe stays too wet in the pot?

You say you have to see your Gongora's first in bloom to identify them: did you buy them without names?

Jan

[jessetukkers]

hello jan,

in what medium do you grow? all my stans are growing in wooden baskets in a mixture from spaghnum, perlite and osmunda, i have no expirience with growing them in pots.

greets jesse