how am i doing Pyro?

[rattler]

 

[pingman]

nice d. falconeri! How large is it?
Peter

 

[Clint]

fantastic!

 

[rattler]

bout an inch and a half across

 

[RL7836]

Nice color but shrinking leaves .... may be heading for dormancy (or not)

(They're the 1st sign).

 

[rattler]

conditions havent changed since being placed in there, better not be going dormant, will keep an eye on it though. have you put this species through dormancy before, Ron?

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

ok I guess I need to do some reading. Does this entire complex go dorment? How do I know when they are going dorment, and do they have to go dorment? Thanks for the info.

 

[Clint]

they don't have to go dormant, but sometimes they just do it, or sometimes you can coax them into it. the leaves start getting smaller as they go dormant.

 

[JB_OrchidGuy]

Thanks Clint. I just want to knwo what to expect so I don;t kill the plants from lack of knowledge.

 

[Pyro]

Looking good. This clone, for no good reason, will sometimes reduce leaf size without actually going dormant. It'll sort of flux down then up then down then up and then stable back out again. At least under my conditions. I have no clue why it does this though.

 

[RL7836]

Quote[/b] (rattler_mt @ Aug. 20 2006,7:54)]conditions havent changed since being placed in there, better not be going dormant, will keep an eye on it though. have you put this species through dormancy before, Ron?

Not D. falconeri. While the standard guidance is to reduce moisture when the leaves get smaller - I haven't found any 'guaranteed' method yet. Seems that the more of these plants I grow, the more I see permutations on the dormancy theme as well as exceptions.

As Pyro noted, some plants seem to 'cycle' up and down through their growing season - 'tricking' you into thinking they may be going dormant. However, when you assume its a head fake - they really go dormant. I have a D. lanata & a D. ordensis which just did this. Ironically, the D. lanata was a pup from a larger plant that has refused to go dormant for almost 2 years...

For some additional reading on the topic, here's an older thread with some interesting information: Petio dormancy