Question
Hi Wayne,
Just a quick question on my Dendrochilum wenzelli.  I got it from a show just a couple days ago and it had 5 flowering stems...now, 2.5 of the stems are dried up and the little red flowers are just falling off.  What is the culture of the plant?  I am misting it well in the morning and the light is moderate to bright.  just wondering what I am doing wrong.

last is, where is the best to go to find out specific culture on orchids if I know what exactly I have?

thanks for your time.

Answer
Gina, Dendrochilum wenzlii is an intermediate grower.  Your conditions sound appropriate for the plant.  When purchasing a plant in flower you may not know how long it has been in flower at the time you purchase it. Because you got it in flower, you have not had the opportunity to enjoy its full flowering.  Add to this, dendrochilums in general have flowers that last less than two weeks. What is ideal is to have the flower spikes open their flowers at different times thus ensuring a longer blooming period.  This is undoubtedly the case with your plant where you still have flowers on two spikes but are losing flowers on the other three. In summary, you are not doing anything wrong and you now have the challenge of growing this plant well for flowering it next year.

I recommend Jay's Internet Orchid Species Encyclopedia for information on orchid species. This is on-line and you just google the title.  For hybrids, you may need to google the name of the hybrid to find a site with information on that particular hybrid.
I wish you well and feel free to ask any additional questions as the need arises.