I do what Arthur said. In sea level hot and humid florida. Sept 30 is the last possible fertilizer and minimal water. Otherwise you get tons of keki's. This treatment is for blooming size orchids. No rest for the small ones. You may not have enough light...Can you get small lava rocks? Your pot needs better drainage. Especially in high humidity. It looks like bark. Rocks would be better. I would remove the top layer of the potting material so you can see the base of the plant. Could a clay pot be carefully drill holes on the sides?

Thanks to both of you for the quick responses. Arthurm - gorgeous grows. the orchid has been sitting 5 years in plastic and degraded bark. I couldn't believe how gorgeous the roots were. I was expecting mush. I re-potted it in what I could find and called it good. I did not soak the bark, left it dry. The city is enveloped in clouds for half the day and most of the night. The bottom is all holes and drains fast. no access to all of this stuff, drills, lava rocks, etc etc. I have to hustle for any type of pot. This is 3rd world living in all respects. Milk containers don't even exist here. We don't get the dip in temps here usually. a few nights of 50F. This concerns me. Will it shoot without a drop?

It is drier and sunnier here Mid July - Mid September. Now. The clouds march down from the mountains and through the little city at night. see photos

South/north exposures at the equator are like North exposures in the USA. no direct light. This is cloud forest. 6500ft above sea level. I have altitude and a ton of reflected light. I have to wear sunglasses. I'm not so worried about the light. I pulled it out of stall on the light I have. I grow roses successfully in the same space. The growing is very dark down here. I had to get used to that. It goes against all I know but the altitude seems to make up for it. closer to the sun.

Shavedmonkey do you grow these in FL?. I won't be so worried about temps if you do. I won't truck this to the fridge every night. Water/rain I can control. I just want the thing to shoot for my friend and get it off my porch. Dens are not my thing

If either of you can look at my other post, that I really want to rehab, it would be much appreciated

We do get cooler temps here in December to sometime in March. Usually. Much hotter the last few years but last year we had cool Dec and Jan. Typical lowest in the 40's. and dendrobium nobile bloomed. Are there any other orchid growers in the area? What are the local orchids?

I've grown in FL. 40's are rare. but the weather changes in winter. Does your den bloom yearly?

Other orchid growers like the US hobbists? Heeheee heck no, they all are outside looking like crap. No one even knows names other than "Orquidea". We have Catts the pinkish/ violet and the alba and something like a Milt or Oncid, classic yellow spider flowers brown.red flecks, big fat bulbs. My my friend got this Den in Cuenca Ecuador. Probably Ecugenera by the looks of it, commercial grower.

The local wild orchids that I've seen hiking are catts, a few species of Maxilaria's very tiny, the oncidium-like yellow, Masde's are common to find in clumps, they are much like ground orchids here and Phrag longifolium and yellow Bletilla (most common). I see Cym's at Christmas time on the streets being sold.

Roses, Catts, Carnations, Coffee, Cocoa, Coca, and Geraniums are primarily grown in this region to give you some idea. The still "slash and burn" heavily in this region

The photo is outdoors, no camera filter. The light here is very beautiful and very special isn't it? There was a stream close by with a patch of black elephant ears on it's banks

I have no problem telling my friend that her orchid won't grow here if that is the case.

or

I can try to change the blooming cycle??? I have the Florida winter conditions in the Summer. Dry and sunny 85-60 temps. Can that be done?

The unknown is the effect of elevation on Temperature at latitude zero. From ancient times I remember the drop was about 3 degrees F for every 1000 feet in elevation.

Nobile type Dendrobiums mostly bloom in spring here.

Your problem is made more difficult by the lack of a name tag. Could be a species or a hybrid. Many of the hybrids made by Yamamoto are more tolerant of adverse conditions.

I do not have any at the moment, but the ones I had in the past didn't like glass-house conditions and did much better outside under shade-cloth (two layers 50% in summer) when the UV sometimes gets to 14.

Anyway read up and happy experimenting.

thanks Arthurm . I found a tag but it said 'Ecuador'. nothing else. I'll give it my best shot and see what happens over the next few months.

Little Update- I stopped the water and fertilizer September 3), as advised. The canes are nice and fattened up. I never grew these - can anyone tell me what to expect the next few months? The canes look a little bit swollen or have a bump near the top. I hope that means Senorita Nobile is thinking about flowering for me.. any thoughts and care tips welcome

my nobile bloomed in August here in NY and the blooms had a lovely fragrance. I had them in a clay pot in bark mixture outside in almost full sun, although our sun is not as strong as yours. They are worth the effort!

I hope so. Indeed a beauty. I've gotten this one down to rest now but honestly, I am really doubtful that the equator is the right climate to bloom this Den. What you and the other posters have in common is heat. I do not have heat here,. 80 day/60 nights. every day.. Thank you. I am not giving up yet

Q: Where does the inflorescence attach to the plant?

This is a no id plant. It was given to me by an old lady by the name of Luveda. So that is the name around here. I feel this is a rare situation that here in Florida I can grow an orchid better than you. One of a very few. My guess is that you live and grow orchids in possibly one of the best places on earth to grow a very large menu of choices. Most orchid growers in the world would love your growing conditions. And would easily trade off what they have for what you have. But still I appreciate your efforts to expand your knowledge and ability. Knowing me I would get very lazy with so many plants willing to grow with modest efforts. Keep the challenge with the nobles. The spikes start anywhere along the cane and randomly on the very top.

Yes it's hard to tell but the spikes are on the top part of the cane about an inch or two long

Mine bloom in March, and they stay outdoors all year, but then we get very little rain, and I have to hand water it most of the year.

Thank you. I have cut the water since september and nothing. The plant is starting to to make new growths. Keep it dry or let it go?

New growths from the pot or higher up on the canes?

I have a few that have yet to bloom.

Luvmychids, dd yours receive water in the summer before they bloomed? It seems none of mine like to go completely dry of they desiccate..

Please, it is a must to hold back water or it it due to temps difference that aloows these to bloom?

Nice plants by the way !!

Mike

I have 1 kei kei and regular new growth has started. Where do I go with it? we had an unseasonable warm dry fall. we are going into rainy season now. It gets cooler

Mike, we had a very rainy NY summer so yes, they received a lot of water. I was very surprised when they started blooming in August. I left them out until a couple of weeks ago when it got down to the 40s and as soon as I brought them in they started growing more buds. Go figure. Beginner's luck I guess.

I think these Dendrobiums thrive on neglect. When I bought my nobile, I had no idea that it was being shipped all the way from Spain. No only that, but the pseudobulb was folded in half and crammed into an envelope with some styrofoam on both sides of it. I was shocked at first, but I went ahead and potted it up and it sent out a new pseudobulb, along with four keikis.

I thought I was buying a white NoID Dendrobium phalaenopis, but was pleasantly surprised when it bloomed for me and I saw that it was a nobile instead.

Its original pot ended up breaking when the plant fell, so I left it to grow bareroot until I could find it another one. Then I potted it up again, where it grew some more. Then this past spring its main pseudobulb eventually died back, so I removed the keikis and repotted them with the main plant. After I finally got through doing this, a thirsty butterfly came over and kept drinking up all of the water from the potting mix for at least half an hour, since this was the hottest part of the summer. Darn moocher, get your own water! lol...I love this Dendrobium nobile, because it can easily grow in full sun all year long. All I do for it is keep it well watered. I stop watering it around Halloween. From there, I overwinter it in my unheated garage, where it gets ignored until spring.

Since it still has leaves, I'll usually place it outside when the weather is bright and sunny, but I refrain from watering it. Once the sun goes down, or the weather gets cold again (Arkansas' weather can be chaotic...), I'll move it back into my garage.

They do OK in the SF bay area as porch orchids. Bloom fine,grow slow. Some Nobles have nice very plump stems and glossy apple green canes. But that's to my eye..most probably aren't out of bloom showy to most people.

Kind of aggravating that healthy stems can kink so fast. I have to learn to tie up the canes sooner.

Here is a not so good Photo taken at an orchid show a few weeks ago. Beginner's orchids grown by experts.

Back of the orchid display in a shopping Centre. The orchid at the right hand end is Dendrobium Swallow 'Queen'. Champion orchid of the show.

I tried growing them in a glass-house, but found that they did better outside and perhaps the dip in temperature is more important than the drought, my thinking is that there still would be dew on cold still nights.

wow. so much info. For some reason I haven't gotten alerts. Well, It's been 90F and cloudless. This is extremely abnormal weather. My amiga has decided to move to another city higher up the mountain. 7,500 feet. The weather is much cooler there. I sent the Den with her, but I took a division. Let's see what happens. I think it's just too hot for this orchid here. Despite ignoring it, it just wants to grow. I don't know where it's getting the energy. The water is still shut off but I hold little hope for it blooming in this climate. The sun is more intense at the equator and the altitude just puts it over the top. All of my plants are struggling with the heat. I'll try to post a pic later of this Den. Thank you all for sharing. Happy New Year. You all grow so beautifully.