Dend. cuthbertsonii

[naoki]

It seems to be fairly warm end, but it is doing great. Ron (of Orchids in Bloom blog) mentioned that it can tolerate warmer temp if strong light is provided. I thought that it was an interesting observation. I thought about the reason, here is one possibility.

Both respiration and photosynthesis rate goes up with temperature (within reasonable range). Photosynthesis assimilate carbon, and respiration uses it up. So plants grow well if you can maximize the difference.

The relationships between temperature and physiological rates differ among species (adaptation to their environment), and determines the optimum day/night temperature for each species (a little simplistic, but good enough). At night, only respiration is happening, so low night temperature is beneficial to minimize the carbon loss due to respiration. If it is too low, other enzymatic reaction get influenced, though. So my speculation was that in some species, more light during the day could compensate for the warmer night temperature (carbon loss). Obviously this doesn't apply to plants which isn't limited by light.

Anyway, it is a beautifully grown plant, Mike!

 

[Tom-DE]

Nice looking one, Mike.

FWIW, I would like to share my growing experiences--I used to have a collection of Den. cuthbertsonii and some PNG Dendrobium as well(before I sold my collection last year). I grew them indoor and I had good success with them if I may say...

Den. cuthbertsonii is not as difficult as many may have indicated...I grow mine under 55-75F, a little bit cooler in winter... good water quality is essential, medium light(1800FC). I used MSU fertilizer with extra doze of magnesium now and then.They grew well on cork mount for me but also did well in wooden basket with tree-fern mix.....Many may say you need to keep the plants constant wet/moist, but I have found drying them out briefly(hours) between watering is beneficial.
Good air movement is important also...I suspect some indoor growers fail on this species because they don't provide enough fresh air in the tanks/special setups. Indoor growers should have fresh air for the plants more often if not 24/7.