I had a Dendrobium that fell in the pool in the middle of the night and after I fished it out, it began to bloom pure white. I think Ken may have two different plants in the same pot. A shock may change color but not form.

Jim

That was my thought too, Jim, but he said he's had this den for several years, and it always bloomed the same.. I could see some color change due to weather or something, but the form appears to be different too. If it was anything but an orchid, I would guess seedling or sucker from grafted plant, but not with an orchid.

If he had the two plants in that pot for years, it would bloom the same. That's the only explination I can offer.

Jim

That's impossible folks. This is the same Dendrobium that I have had for over 10 years. In fact, it is the only standard Den. I have ever owned. It has bloomed true, 2-3 times each year for over a decade. And, its never fallen into a pool. I don't have one. Apparently, we all have room to learn, huh? Perhaps it is only a "sport". But why two separate canes and three stems? More questions than answers. This is getting fun. I love "Stump the experts".

Perhaps the AOS would have interest in this story. Surely they have the expertise to tell me how and why this happened. Needless to say, I am the one with the initial question and would love to know the answer.

Here are what I think are interesting photos of the Den., taken under dew-covered glass in the moonlight.

Kind of eerily beautiful, Ken! Very artistic!

Thanks, Tara. I guess I have too much time on my hands, or perhaps the wine..............

I was gone yesterday for about 12 hours and came home to a bunch of new blooms..
From Paul Storm's collection C. Latonia x Mcp albopurpurea. This one has 2 spikes , the second one is just starting to elongate


The ever in bloom Psychopsis..






One of the first plants I bought after coming back ashore..Eplc. Volcano Trick 'Paradise' AM/AOS
This one has me stumped about staking...the bud cluster WAS held straight up and then just before
the first flower opened , it curved down..should I try and stake it now?..will it pull itself up ?





This one from Krull Smith had a spike in December but I can't find a picture of it, so it may have blasted..
This was just a single bud and seems to be missing some important parts... Slc. Jungle Gem x Slc. Red Jewel

Wow, beautiful! On the huge, heavy bud cluster - while I'm not ever that keen on staking orchids, that one looks like it needs some help. On the other hand the stake might end up getting in the way of the flowers opening. I'll bet it bent down when all those buds got wet in a rain shower. If you stake it up and it gets rained on heavily again, it might break. That would be terrible.

If you could hang up the pot so the stem is hanging downwards, that might be the only other solution. Got a net bag, like a fruit bag of some sort you could put the pot in so you can hang it and not lose all the bark?

Lindsey, love the Paul Storm orchid. If it were mine, I would try to steak it but Elaine's idea would work as well.

Jim

I ended up getting it staked...the plant hasn't been in the pot long enough to go upside down without loosing all the media..there's another spike on the way , so I'll go ahead and position a stake there as well.

I am with Jim, I love the Paul Storm's x!
I am glad you got that spike secured. Many times like this I wind up using a piece of lace to secure it to the racks above it. Not very photogenic...

And there is my Summer blooming Cattleya Penny Kuroda 'Spots', bought many years ago from Waldor Orchids! ( always a great vendor btw). It blooms like clockwork ever Summer, I usually get two spikes.
Lots of pictures from different angles -


In the last picture one can still see the basket. And if you look closely at the spikes, we were talking the other day if one cuts the sheath or not - on this one I did cut the sheaths, and the water just poured out as I did. Maybe it would have been alright, but I was worried the buds would rot/abort, so I split them gently.

It's just beautiful, and my goodness it looks like that plant climbed out of that basket a while ago!

I'm hoping the same thing happens with my big NOID that is in a basket now. It was formerly in a ceramic vented pot but couldn't "walk" out of there easily. But it is growing outwards in 3 directions now, so I may have to hang it up soon! It weighs about 40lb. already, too.

Watch that key board, Alice....

Elaine, that is huge!!!
If one looks at this plant here - we were talking about splitting/dividing Cattleyas - many of my Cattleyas grow like that over the edge and that is when they bloom the best for me. There is no way I could divide a plant like that without major damage.

Same here, before I broke the old pot and put it in the cedar basket with most of its root ball out over the top, it had slowed down on blooming quite drastically. Now I have all these new leads and 8 new sheaths coming along. I may have to get Marsh to build me a stand to hold this plant up, as it gets larger and heavier.

That has always been one of my favorites, Ursula...it's STILL on my list!



here's Eplc. Volcano Trick 'Paradise' after getting pinned up on a stake..


and C. Latonia x Mcp. albopurpurea makes a great landing pad for this dragonfly

Oooo, another calendar shot with the dragonfly there, Lindsay. Wonderful!

My last shots of Renate, and the purple Den here - usually they last longer but yikes, it's been hot! Fading fast . . .

Lindsey, the spike looks good like that.
And that Dragonfly on Orchid shot is gorgeous!

Elaine, your Renate shot is pretty too!