Slc. Kagaribi Dawn 'Red Star'

[Dorsetman]

Another red cluster Cat' although larger flowers this time - 11cm north-south and 8 cm wide ( natural spread). About 16 flowers and buds - one entire spike is a few weeks away from being open.
My plant has a fault in that the flower stems are not strong enough for the weight of the flowers - a weak neck I suppose. But I think this is my culture. Orchidwiz shows this clone (Red Star) with perfectly ok flowers, as well as an awarded clone 'Anja' which is a more uniform dark red without the orange relief.
I think my cultural fault is due to low humidity. Close examination shows that, in the leaves. I used to be spraying all my dendrobiums every day, apart from in the coldest and dullest weather,which kept the greenhouse humid enough but have stopped that now because I have moved the supplementary lights for the cattleyas and the risk of hitting 600 watt light bulbs with cold water is too serious .
Only this week-end I have finished installing my new humidification system for the whole greenhouse , which I will show in a few weeks when I have finished a few other more minor jobs - but basically it is two large centrifugal humidifiers, connected to 100 litre tanks which I keep topped up with RO water. One runs continually from morning to evening, and the other is hygrostat controlled at 75% humidity - that one is on occasionally, but not all the time, so I reckon I am now keeping the correct level of humidity all the time.This plant will be a good test of that !

[JDT]

Pretty color!

[Sheryl]

You've got quite the vibrant colors going on right now Geoff! Another beauty!

[Chris in Hamilton]

Not easy for the stem to support that many larger flowers. We had planned to have an attached greenhouse but turns out it would not be large enough and the humidity wouldn't be good for the house. Back to the drawing board.