Dendrobium Mousmee X Den. farmerii - Thought on blooming it.
 

Den. Mousmee X Den. farmerii Cultivation

This is more of a case of using this as a sounding board to verify my conclusions.

I picked up a Den. Mousmee X Den. farmerii last summer.
It is a mature well developed plant.
But, it has obviously never been bloomed.
No nodes show signs of any inflorescence growth.

As far as I can determine, Den. Mousmee is a primary cross between D. bronckartii [amabile] and D. thyrsiflorum.
Some speculate that D. farmerii and/or Den. densiflorum may be one of the parent plants.

It is assuredly a Calista [Densiflora] Section Dendrobium.

Cultivation recommendations for potential parent plants from habitat calculations and other data:

Den. thyrsiflorum
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...psfzrc577y.jpg

Den. bronckartii [amabile]
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...psvel3gdbw.jpg

Den. farmerii
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...psh6wabh99.jpg

Den. densiflorum
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...pss1dpxcg2.jpg


The greenhouse, where it was located at, is at about 500' of elevation.
I am at about 800'.

FACT: The higher the altitude here the cooler the micro climate.

I'm about 300' higher.
Therefore, winter night as well as day temperatures are a bit cooler here.

This last winter my night temps were into the low 60* to an occasional occasional mid 50*F.
Day temps have been pushing 80* with occasional forays up to the mid 80*s.

I believe my local climate has a winter temperature range that may be a bit above the high end of what these plants want in order to bloom, but should be close enough to stimulate it.
Hybrids are usually a bit more tolerant of growing conditions than species plants.

Why am I so enthused about getting this to bloom?
Here's why:

Den. Mousmee
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p...psnslrrear.jpg
Photo stolen from another website, but I gotta have one of these!

Not sure if you knew that this has a registered hybrid name of Den. Floralia. A good name based on pics of it in OrchidWiz!

That is news to me.
But, I get nothing for either name through the RHS International Orchid Register.
To be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if that site is still working.
i used to be able to pull up lineage for almost anything I put into it.
I get nothing for these two apparently well known hybrid names.

After a bit of a search, I understand now.
That is the name of my hybrid.
Thanks, all I had to work with was the tag on it.

Apparently the pic I posted is of a Den. amabile.

Attachment 119603 Here is a screen shot from the OrchidWiz page. This hybrid was registered in 1969. And below is a picture of the only awarded cultivar 'Jenkins'. A nice plant. I can see why you want some blooms.
Attachment 119604

Maybe the RHS site is down for maintenance. As far as I know it should still be working. I like my OrchidWiz for this stuff tho.

Wow!
I'm impressed with OrchidWiz.
Think I''ll need to get a copy for myself.

I'm beginning to wonder if my plant is not descended from the original named cross, but from another later crossing.
That may explain why the name Floralia was not attached.
The characteristics may vary from the accepted D. Floralia form.
Just letting thoughts wander on this.
Until it blooms, it is all supposition.

There is a trial version of Orchid Wiz a person can load and try for free. It doesn't do everything but likely gives a good idea of it.

I find some companies sell a lot of their hybrids with parental names only. I suppose they either don't know the hybrid name. In this case they should since it has been around for a long time. But maybe some people want to know the parent's names as much as they do the actual hybrid name. It might give them a better idea what to expect for a bloom.

beautiful!

It is a beauty. I hope you get it to bloom also. I can't imagine you not being able to.

Oh, I can see me not being able to get it to bloom.
It is not my only potential problem bloomer.

I acquired 3 large Den. aggragatum plantings.
I placed them together and now have a single mounted group larger than 1sqft in area.
After sitting dormant for months, it has finally begun to put out a few new growths, but no sign of blooming yet.
I may not be able to keep it cool and dry enough to bloom it.
Although, I did pick up a smaller one last summer that was in bloom.
That gives me hope.
If someone else here in Hawai'i can do it, surely I can too.

Then, I also acquired 3 large Den. loddigesii's.
They also are greater than 1sqft in area after mounting them together on one of the driveway palms.
After several mountings and re-mountings, they died back quite a bit.
They are now beginning to grow again and look as if they might recoup much of what they have lost in the thickness of their matting.
There has been no sign of it trying to bloom.
I'm not sure of the problem: Abuse? Too warm? Too wet?

And, I acquired what was given to me as a Den. cretaceum.
Researching it to learn a bit about it, I find that the Bakers' "Orchid Species Culture: Dendrobium" agrees to calling it D. cretaceum.
The Bakers' tome is begining to be a bit dated now, about 20 years since publication.

The IOSPE on the other hand says the correct name is Den. polyanthum which may be the present accepted naming, except that both references state that some consider it to be conspecific with [same species as] Den. primulinum.
So, I grabbed a ladder and went up to take a closer look at it.
Lo and behold, I find that the D. polyanthum has the same depressions at the nodes [where the flowers bud from] that the D. primulinum has.
I've never seen any other Dendrobium to have those "spear tip" shaped depressions.
I'm now watching it closely with great interest for buds developing.
But, no signs of buds forming yet.

Finally, I have what was sold to me as a Den. crystallinum.
I am suspicious that it may not be a true D. crystallinum, but possibly a natural hybrid [X D. aphyllum].
It doesn't have the D. crystallinum's very strong honey fragrance.
It did bloom for me last spring when hung unter the lanai eaves.
It is now mounted on a driveway palm, and is exposed to more moisture.
It has shown no inclination to bloom yet this spring.
Maybe too wet?

There are others, but my main concern is for the Dendrobium species plants.
They have been my primary concern for many, many years now.
I just can't seem to shake off my obsession with get them to bloom.