This year's Dendrobium speciosum is...
 

...a little sad. I did hear that some others in socal are also seeing a poor blooming this spring. Maybe due to a combination of milder and wetter "winter" this year.

I wonder if these can be alternate "bearing" from year to year as well.

This year:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b5c14e27_c.jpg


I recall last year being much colder... not sure if that had a significant impact!

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f35e4003_c.jpg

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...00ef72f6_c.jpg

...these are probably, var boreale with the upright spikes and keiki forming habits.

Needs a stern talking to about life goals. :biggrin:

Taking a year off. Maybe temps did have something to do with it.

I'm not seeing as much action from most of my Den speciosums this year either... a nice bloom from Den speciosum var grandiflorum, but the others are sitting there. The Aussie Dens (mostly hybrids of speciosum) are going to put on a decent performance, but running quite late. So maybe they did shoot their wad last year and are taking a break. Last winter was wet, but also cold, This one, wet but warmer. So maybe...

It would be interesting to look up historical temperatures in the range for that subspecies - not just averages, but records showing highs/lows day by day or month by month. Australia has excellent climate records online.

Great idea! You do that and report back? :biggrin:

I know how to do it. The exercise is left for the reader to complete.

Is this similar to assigning homework? ;)

My college calculus book said that frequently.