I'm in New York, zone 7. I live on the south shore of Long Island (basically all marshland) so humidity stays relatively high year round, but we do freeze. It's in a plastic pot right now, I'm thinking of moving it to a clay pot, I just need to give the pot a good scrub before I go transplanting anything into it. I have some mix I got for a worsleya, it's fir bark, sponge rock and charcoal bits. Worsleya are tropical epiphytic bulbs that rot at the drop of a hat and this stuff works really well with mine. It would be indoors, at least for a while, things start cooling off around September up here. It's about a foot tall, it was in moss when I got it. I'll move it as soon as someone tells me my orchid bark will work.

This is a small division. Its unlikely you will get any flowers this year. Best thing to do is repot carefully without damage to the roots. Pot in some small bark with a little sphag mixed in to deal with low humidity over the winter. Keep it outside until the night temps go to the 50's. Place in a bright place in your yard.

Bring it in when the night temps are low and grow in a sunny window.

AOS culture sheet

Jane

Thanks for the advice :) how big do they have to get to flower? The flowers on this one are gorgeous

The larger growth needs to send out another growth (pbulb). I like divisions with at least 3 bulbs, the more the better.

After your larger cane finishes growing, it will make a new growth probably next spring. That growth might send out a spike if all goes well. So you have at least another year to wait.

Make sure you post pics when it does flower.

Jane

I like clay pots. The pot will dry out a little faster than plastic. At your latitude your plant will take all the sun you can give. To be sure 1/2 day sun, 1/2 day bright shade. Water every 3 or 4 days. Many orchids including your dendrobium like to be planted in a pot on the smallish side. Also like many other orchids they do much better if they are planted on the potting material, not in it. It is an air plant. Exposed roots are desirable. You will need a rhizome clip and someone to show you how. The plant must be repotted every couple of years. The potting material rots and the roots need air spaces. Tardy repotting will harm or may kill your orchid. I use lava rock and never have to repot. When it outgrows the pot I put the orchid and pot in another larger pot. Or make divisions. But lava rock requires daily watering. Orchid plus at home depot for fertilizer.

If you want to learn about orchids consider joining a local orchid society. This is the fastest way to learn and a pleasant experience comes along for the ride...

I'd love to join a few different societies, but I'm actually disabled. I have to take a disability access bus if I want to go anywhere (I'm not any sort of limited mobility, but I can't drive). Luckily I work in the greenhouse of the college I got my horticulture degree from, so I'll try talking to a few people and checking out the orchid collection next time I go into work. I mostly rely on this site for advice on new plants, so thank you guys so much :)

One more question, is there any sort of outdoor pests I should be concerned about? I have a lovely little area in my yard where I put my humidity loving plants for the summer, and since it's still warm I may put this one out there. I've had a few issues with slugs and snails in the past, had a grub almost kill my eithea by eating the bulb last summer, luckily I caught it in time. If I come outside one morning to find this thing chewed up I'll lose my mind.

Snails and slugs eat orchids. I can tell you what bugs we have here. The people at the greenhouse will be familiar with managing the local bugs. That would be your best source. Here everything has changed about the weather. The last 5 years has been getting warmer every year. In the past I would heat about 50 or 60 days in the winter. Last winter was 10 days. Cant grow tomatoes anymore. a moth that hatched much later now hatches in the winter. overwhelms tomato plants. I have no bug experience in zone 7 New York. Whatever it is it is not the same as here...

Believe me, it's the same up here. Winter doesn't actually come until December, then lasts until June. Can't go to the beach for memorial day anymore, too cold. Can't grow apples anymore either, not enough cold to get my trees to set buds. I think i'll have to keep the orchid inside. I don't have too many problems with insects up here. Other than the snails and slugs and occasional grub, all I ever really see outside is leaf miners or June bugs. And Japanese beetles, but they're easy to deal with. A bigger issue is deer. They eat everything. They're incredibly fond of my tuberoses. I'm not interested in killing anything, but it's gotten so bad that they're culling some populations to protect the environment. My town just donated a couple hundred pounds of venison to the food bank. I've tried repellents, fences, you name it, they don't care, they're coming in and they're eating. They don't even run if you walk up to them, they just stare and continue eating. It's a shame, I do like them, but I like them less when I go outside to find my garden eaten...

Sorceress, I am originally from NY, Westchester County about 40 mins north of NYC. I grew my orchids outdoor without any big problems. We did have a big deer problem, we eventually fenced in an acre of property and had three wonderful Rottweilers who the deer decided not to mess with.

I had a lot of plants. Many summered outside on a large deck off our kitchen. Others were hung from trees or on benches under some trees. The only problem I had was with squirrels, ants and slugs. Prior to the fence, I never had any deer eat my orchids probably because they preferred my rose bushes, azaleas, white pine, hostas and various other plants. I understand your frustration, I also tried everything. The dogs and fence did the trick but the fence cost a small fortune.

Orchids respond so well being outside.

Not much can be done about the squirrels that I found. They didn't eat the plants but they would knock the pots over. Slugs, I discovered do not like copper. I took some copper wire and wrapped it around the legs of the benches. Did the trick. Just a thin piece of wire works.They won't crawl over it. Ants were a pain but I used to dunk each and ever plant in some soapy water in a bucket and left it overnight. Ants would run out and either drown or crawl out of the bucket. I did this in the Fall when I had to start bringing them it. It worked.

If you have a spot outside your door where you could put a cheap plastic table, put your plants outside and they will be happy, grow better and give you more flowers. Its worth the work.

Jane

Ok, thank you! I feel better knowing that you haven't had too many problems. I think I have some copper wire around here somewhere. I know of things to kill them but I used to play with them as a kid, I can't bear to kill them. I'll give it a shot outside :)