I am a newbie in Houston, TX!

[Ivelisse]

Hi

I just moved from Florida to Houston, actually I move to the north east side (New Caney). I love Dendrobiums especially Nobiles I would like to know if somebody have experience growing Dendrobiums in this area because the weather here is different from the one my orchids came from. also I would like to know about orchid shows and conventions nearby. Thanks,

Ivelisse

[mayres]

Welcome Ivelisse -
I am not from your area - but have noted that there is an orchid society in Houston and there is a show in a few weeks! YOU ARE IN LUCK! Here is a link to their website - http://houstonorchidsociety.org/
mike

[pikevi]

Welcome to the forum,, Ivelisse

[kmarch]

Welcome to the forum, Ivelisse! How cool does huston get in the winter? If ti gets cool enough (50-55F) I would think you could have great success with nobile-type Dendrobiums. They like warmth and lots of water in the summer when they're growing and cool and fairly dry in the winter in order to get them to bloom.

Happy Growing!

-Kevin

[jerrymeola]

Ivelisse

I do not think you will find Nobiles to grow much different in Texas from Florida.

The one in your avatar looks to be one of Yamamoto's unique colors called Oriental Smiles.

All of these Nobiles can take full all day sun from 32 to 100 degrees. It would seem to be hard to fall outside this range in Texas. I would not even worry if the temps dropped to 28-30 for a few hours during the night.

While they like full sun and in Hawaii they never shade these plants, I find they also bloom in partial shade. All in all one of the easiest orchids to grow. They have the genetic train to drop all their leaves every year and flower on bare or almost bare canes.

They need cool (under 50 ) nights for a month in order to flower, so outside in Texas should be easy.

The most critical thing is NO FERTILIZER after August. Avoid High Nitrogen fertilizers and never use slow release fertilizers.

Some people recommend withholding water over the winter but I never do and I have about a 99% flowering rate.