I have my orchids on a tree.... if it doesn't rain do I need to water them.... I have been watering everyday.....

Culture depends on where you are in the world. Easy here with a drier, cooler mostly sunny winter. Fine Tuning depends on your climate. Are you talking about the same orchids as Shavedmonkey??

Thanksgiving is when I shut off the water. No problem with blooms.

Jane

Jane, get more blooms and less keikis if you start earlier. Give it a try...

I am not sure if they are the same type of orchid.... some were called cats.... and some were called dems......

I am in Palm Beach County Florida and bought them at the Mounts Botanical Orchid sale

Here is the link to their pictures...... these are when I first got them home. I tied them to my banyan tree.... they get morning sun and afternoon sun..... the person I got them from said they need good drainage, but lots of water...... Suggestions on keeping them healthy would be welcomed....

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5791973/mounts-botanical-orchid-sale#n=1

You are talking about Cattleya and Dendrobium orchids. Didn't the orchids come with name tags in the pots?

The name stuff is complicated, so do not worry about it too much if you are a beginner.

So, why cannot I give you names with pics? 100,000 registered orchid names creates an id problem.

And they are not nobile type dendrobiums...

Sharon, I can see tags on at least 2 of them. Let us know what they say. That will be the key as to how to care for them.

I don‘t have any true nobile dendrobiums but do have 2 hybrids. They are less picky but I do cut back on water and zero fertilizer around now, and they do well for me.

Kingianum on the other hand continues to be a struggle. I’m going to push a little colder and dryer this year and see what happens.

I'm struggling to remember not to water. I do it every year. The first wee of October is the gray area. Tomorrow is feed day. I'm thinking to make this the last feeding as a sendoff to fasting...

Those US Climate Zones are useful, but misleading! I tried a few nobile type Dendrobiums in a glasshouse so I could follow the no watering rule in winter and they did poorly. Better outside under a bit of shade cloth subject to the normal winter weather........BrRRRrrr.

I did see a slight frost on the back lawn a couple of mornings. Night winter minimums mostly in the 5 to 10C range. Plenty of days when the arid westerly wind blew. Not much rain and a sparse watering every now and then. Of course, many sunny days.

Similar comments re. kingianum which needs that temperature drop at night in winter. Must be hard to achieve if you live in a place with a real winter. Just every so on in winter it will rain on kingianum and it doesn't seem to matter. So the temperature drop and no fertiliser, plus reduced watering might be more of a key.

My nobiles take the lower 40's before I protect them. I think the cold is needed. Sparse watering and no fertilizer is the local choice. I restart the regular watering and feeding at first sign of buds. The fasting is not for the small non blooming plants. Mine get full exposure under shade cloth and it will rain in the dry season once or twice a week. and some weeks none.

I'm with James, no true nobiles but a couple of hybrids that work well for me. A few years ago Carter & Holmes were selling Den 'ICE' hybrids that were nobile types that did not need the winter rest/dry spell. I bought a couple small ones and as they have matured they are fairly impressive. They both bloom intermittently throughout the year and are pretty prolific as they bloom both indoors during winters and outdoors during the summer. The down side is mostly white flowers for my ICE hybrids and they don't have the color 'pop' of a lot of true nobiles that I've seen.

As far kingianums, I never got many flowers but lots of keikis, obviously a cultural issue on my part. I somewhat struggle with the 'needs dry rest' type orchids, so other than a Den "aggrevatum" I stay away from them now.

Bob

I haven't got many Nobile type Dendrobiums. Too much fiddling about to keep them tidy.

"Ice Hybrids" similar with Cymbidiums, where some will Bloom in warm parts of Florida?

The local orchid society's spring orchid show will be on in a few weeks and nobile type Dendrobiums will take up a lot of room in the display. Will be lucky to get more than one or two of those "easy to grow Phalaenopsis".

Here is a link to the local Society's photo library

222 Photos Dendrobium soft-cane/nobile type orchids

Some clones of kingianum tend to make keikis rather than flowers, but no fertiliser in winter is a good rule to follow.

How do you get such low temps in Florida? Is that consistent night temps? I inherited a den a couple of years ago. I cut the water and fertiliser at this time of year. It has never bloomed for me. It is just a green decoration. It is already protesting and yellowing off a little.

People who don't live in FL always think it's always hot here. It's mostly true in South FL but I live in north FL and our nirmal winter nights (Dec & Jan) are usually in the low 40s. However every couple of years we get into the 30s and even high 20s. Of course unlike in the northern states these temps only last a few hours nd as soon as the sun is up we're up into the 50s & 60s.

As far as your dend not blooming. Can you tell us what kibd of light it gets. I grow many dends and in my experience lack of blooming for most genera including dends is too low light.

I lived in Miami for 25 years. Can you believe I never heard that N Fl gets night cold? If you look on my other post, entitled "Cymbidium Help Please", you'll see my grow area. It gets fabulous light. I grow as bright as possible.

I think my climate is too stable. The lowest temps we experience at night is 55F and only once in a blue moon. Let me know what you think about the light and conditions. It's been well cared for. I inherited it. The girl that gave it to me had it 5 years. No blooms either. I divided it. She took half and I took half. Both of us are batting 0