The Six Horticultural Groups of Dendrobium
 

As classified by Rebecca Tyson Northern, there are 6 groupings that describe the differences in growing needs of Dendrobiums. I am paraphrasing to avoid copyright infringement.

Type I (deciduous, so-called nobile type) intermediate to warm in summer, cool to cold in winter, full winter rest. Examples: D. nobile, D. chrysanthum, D. wardianum.

Type II (deciduous) intermediate to warm all year, full winter rest. Examples: D. speciosum, D. aggregatum, D. findlayanum, D. heterocarpum, D. superbum (anosmum), D. parishii, D. pierardii.

Type III (persistent) intermediate to warm summer, cool in winter, no winter rest - simply reduce water. Examples: D. densiflorum, D. fimbriatum, D. thyrsiflorum, D. farmeri.

Type IV (persistent) cool all year. Short suspension of water early autumn. Examples: D. bellatulum, D. secundum.

Type V (persistent) Intermediate all year. No rest. Examples: D. antilope and hybrids of type V and type VI.

Type VI (persistent) warm growing all year. Restrict water twice during year. Examples: D. phalaenopsis, D. bigibbum, D. superbiens.

Now, I have little personal success with any, except type II, so I can't help with culture on the others (I kill them more often not not - or they just up and die :evil: ) but deciduous type II are said to be the easiest for in-house culture, if one follows their needs strictly. I've found this to be true for D. anosmum. Hope this helps others.

Thanks Ross,

All this dendrobium alk lately has mostly just confused me, as I didn't know what type meant what. :scratchhead: I'm still in the dark as to what I have, but still researching.

Thanks again :bowing

niki

I know this info has been posted before. Can one of the mods please make this a sticky? Pretty please?? :)

Just research the cross (because likely you have hybrids) and compare parents/grand parents to this chart.

Excellent, Ross! thanks for this info!

Great post! I do have a question though - What group do the dendrobiums from the formosae group (the black hair dends/nigrohirsute) belong to? :hmm I feel like it is Group IV, but then it's a little confusing because I was just researching dend tobaense (which has an awesome flower btw) and it is stated as a warm grower! :scratchhead: So perhaps this group has a bit more range? I'm not sure - I've never grown them before...I've only dreamed of growing them :drool:

Group IV is correct. That is represented by D. bellatulum.

Great post Ross, very helpful!
I think hobbyists are able to gain a better undstanding about the culturing needs after reading about the 6 different types of dens.

I have a nigrohirsute that is a cross between group IV & V. It has cruentum and formosae in it's parentage. I grow it as a group V and it's going nuts, blooms all over the place.

This is a very helpful post for those with similar Dendros. Thanks for posting this.