June 2018 Plant of the Evening

Dendrobium Macquarie Spectrum '#5'

The cross was done by Mike Harrison and a flask I acquired was planted out in 2001. It has been fairly slow to flower as the first plant only flowered in 2010 with '#5' flowering in 2017.

It is grown cold under 50% shade cloth but with a solid cover all year 'round. It is fertilised with Peters® CalMag finisher during the growing season.

The mix I use is my standard 4 to 1 medium bark with gravel (about 10 to 15 mm). Watering is about every two weeks in winter and roughly every five to seven days in summer. This will vary depending on the weather conditions. As the cross came from Macquarie Orchid Nursery it was named last year as Dendrobium Macquarie Spectrum. Spectrum since all the seedlings that flowered varied widely in colour.