I'm considering adding Dendrobium falcorostrum to my orchid collection, and I'd like to see if anyone has experience with this species. I've read that it prefers cool conditions in order to thrive, which might be a problem for me since I live in the Midwestern portion of the US, where our days are usually very warm and humid. My other Australian Dendrobiums (kingianum, pedunculatum, curvicaule and x delicatum) spend the summers outdoors here, get lots of sunlight and water, and do well for me, but I'm not sure how adaptable falcorostrum would be under the same conditions, and would appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience with it--especially if you grow it outside of its ideal environment. Thank you.
Mike:
I grow Dend. falcorostrum outdoors in the Oakland Hills (east of San Francisco). While certainly not as hot as the Midwestern states in the summer, we are certainly warmer than San Francisco, and my Australian Dendrobiums do fine (they bake in the afternoon sun and are kept warm at night by the brick paving they sit on). I suspect that as long as you provide cool, bright and dry conditions in the winter your plant will do fine. I water mine very infrequently in winter, allowing the canes to remain somewhat shriveled for months. I only begin watering enough to plump it up when the flower buds are pretty well developed. My D. x delicatum and a bunch of other hybrids don't seem to need quite as much winter dryness as the falcorostrum to bloom well.
Dennis
_______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) orchids@orchidguide.com http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
