Dendrobium discolor blooming, I am doing the happy dance!

[Ricardo in PR]

A about 3 years ago I brought a small seedling of Den. discolor with the hope that it would grow quickly into a large plant. However as the years went by, the plant seemed disinclined to grow much. It would produce canes that would top out at roughly 12 inches. Considering that plants of this species can produce gargantuan canes 9 feet tall this was a dissapointingly weak effort. But last month the plant surprised me by producing two inflorescences. I had thought it was too small for blooming, I did a little reading and found out that plants of this species can vary widely in the size of the plant and of the flowers. The flowers are small for the species I but find them highly beautiful and intriguingly different from the flowers that are usually pictured.

I have this plant gowing in full sun, it gets plenty of water and fertilizer during the months of May to December, then no fertilizer and is watered once weekly, a bit more if it gets too wrinkled on the stems. When I said 9 feet I was refering to the of the high end of the average of the plants that can be found in the wild, exceptional plants in the wild have been reported to be taller than 15 feet, among the tallest of orchids!

[Marci in SoFL]

That is stunning, Ricardo. If I had bloomed that beauty I would be doing the happy dance, too! BTW - I always enjoy reading your informative posts. Thank you!

[Ricardo in PR]

You are welcome!

[Allen]

WOW! and triple WOW! STUNNING TO SAY THE LEAST.

[Ricardo in PR]

I refrained from buying hydrids of these type of Dendrobium after losing a number of plants of species of the section Sphatulata. But it appears to me now that (at least under my local conditions) if you make sure the roots have good access to oxygen, the plants are then pretty tough on other accounts. My error in the culture of these plants was to plant them in pots that lacked enough holes to allow plenty of air circulation and in media that when it decayed it formed pockets where the roots where killed by lack of oxygen.

[Kathy-WPalmBeach]

Wow! Ricardo that is surreal - looks like it came from Pandora!