The correct name is Dendrobium agrevatum. Yes, a totally dry winter is supposed to make it bloom. I have 3 of them, last year one of them bloomed. They always manage to get splashed somehow and for me are very reluctant bloomers. When they choose to bloom, they are very nice. Let us know if it gives you blooms or the usual finger.

Nick

That's what I thought.

Jane

My winter rest got away from me this year!!! My Aggregatum, Kingianum, and a nobile hybrid all got frozen on the front porch!!! It's ok. I think I'll be ok without them. I did bring in the Kingi and hang it over the kitchen sink, I guess I'm challenging Arthur's notion that they can take anything.Will see if any of it has survived, look at it as an experiment for the orchid community....yes, that's what we'll call it, brilliant!!!!gb

They should be kept dry and only watered to prevent them from shriveling up.

Good story, ginni. That happened to me in NY. I had a bunch of Catts near a window while we were getting our house painted. My husband opened all the windows to get the fumes out. This was in January. After an hour he closed the windows except for the one with the Catts. Next morning, I had solidly frozen Cattelyas.

The best I can do in Florida is leave the sucker outside all winter and hope it doesn't rain.

I'll donate it to the next auction. I don't have time for this nonsense!

Jane

Den. kingianum can stand temps down to about zero. C. Same for all the other toughies but not the temps in the frozen north. (Where the real orchid growers live).
Forget all this bone dry stuff, it is twaddle! Just think drier! The climate here is east coast erratic.
My last experiment with totally dry was with Stenoglottis longifolia. Needless to say it died. The replacement plant is going to spend winter out in the shade-house getting what rain that falls plus top up by me in really dry periods.
While i'm raving on....here is a picture of the hated banana herb growing next door. Always looks straggly and it is like those casper milk toasts of the orchid world Phalaenopsis. Any suggestion of frost and it is cactus! The coldest it has ever got in this micro-climate is about 1C.
{{gwi:142932}}

Yikes! Feel for you Arthur...

Jane

No No No Arthur! It gets Fahrenheit here...not Celsius!!! That's much colder isn't it???? Right?? You silly Aussie people...

(I'm just kidding,I'm a kidder!)I do have to take my shoes off to change ðC to ðF like my husband told me. Have to stick my tongue out too because it makes my brain hurt.

Yep! Nope, I was right. It's dead. I'm ok with that though. Time to mooooove on. Ginnibug

I've forgotten how to do the conversion, but every so often I ask Dr. Google to do it for me...There 1.C = 33.8F Brrrr
Never got around to writing about the rainfall figures for winter 2012.
June 2012 178.2mm
July 2012 40.8mm
August 2012 7.2mm

I'll ask Dr. google to do conversion to inches.
June 7.016 inches. drought
July 1.606 inches. severe drought
August .283 inches. very severe drought

Despite being nearly drowned Den. kingianum flowered normally in spring.
I think the temperature drop is more important than dryness but i've no idea how much temperature drop is needed for real orchid growers in the frozen north.

Ginnibug,why are you calling Aussies silly? If you spent your life standing on your head how do you think you'd feel? Considering the fact that they are continually upside down I think they are doing great.

Nick

lololololol

Oh my gosh! What a huge belly laugh that was.
In reality it's because they're toilet water just really messes them up, it's too confusing because of all that going the wrong way and stuff.

We're just kidding Arthur. Please take no offense. The gravity is pushing on our brains too hard up here. Ginni

Lol. Never thought about the effects of gravity up north!

Back when I was growing in Hawaii, the Den aggregatum grew perfectly well mounted on tree fern or bark out in full sun. Of course, that was hawaii. However, mounting is a good option for some of the ones that don't like dank feet.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Wayward Hawaiian