It needs to be repotted. The way you pot depends on your watering habits. If you do not water much a plastic pot is a good idea. And bark would work. I use water daily. I use clay pots and lava rock in the pot.

Nobiles at the end of summer need special treatment to bloom in the fall or winter. The locals have that dialed in for your zone. If there is an orchid society in your area they can be a big help.

Plant the roots on the medium, not in it. The plant will send some into the pot. Use a rhizome clip. No wobbly plants.

My nobiles here in florida are in bud, flowers coming soon...

Good luck

You probably need a medium which is a little bit less coarse than a "Cattleya" mix, something along the lines of pine bark + coconut chunks + perlite and the plant always a bit overpotted.
You know that they are strongly seasonal.
Grow in Summer
Mature the Pseudobulb in Autumn
Do nothing in winter when they need high light and reduced watering
Flower in Spring
They are easy here...beginners orchids and are a feature of the late spring orchid shows.
SO. It your plant really a dendrobum nobile?
If it is it out of Sync. maybe it got special treatment in a climate controlled glasshouse to be in bloom in fall.
Does it have a name tag?

This post was edited by arthurm on Sun, Jan 18, 15 at 20:20

Arthur, I don't think that vtandrea's plant is out of sync as far as blooming season goes. I'm in New York and have a number of nobile dendrobiums in bud with them just starting to flower.

My guess is its a latitude issue. Vermont is 6 zones north with quite a lot of white stuff. Mine in zone 10 is starting to bud. My guess is flowers in 2 to 3 weeks.

My guess is to grow a garden you need good timing. A lot of cold weather there.

Yes, after 7 years of growing all kinds of orchids, I'm learning which ones do not like my conditions. I use fluorescent lights for the ones that need more brightness; the others have to be happy being in a room with big southeast windows. For some reason, I can't keep cattleyas alive for more than 3 years. I have one with fantastic-looking roots, but disfigured leaves. Hasn't bloomed yet. I did repot the dendrobium (yes, I'm sure it's a nobile) into bark plus a lot of perlite. Will keep it fairly dry until spring, which up here is May, contrary to what the calendar says!

vtandrea,
Less than half of what we do raising orchids is important for the outcome. The majority outcome is dependant on environment. That does not mean ignore your plants. There are 30,000 to 40,000 natural species depending on the source. Because of such a large pool to choose from, I finally asked myself why grow orchids that do not like my culture?

So now I am only interested in orchids that like my micro-clime. Brassavolas I believe would have been natural here if us humans showed up a little later.

I wonder if I lived in zone 4 or near very cold weather, why not have an outdoor bed of terrestrial paphs? Don't they live in that kind of environment?

Hello Andrea:

Dendrobium nobile. We have a yellow Dendrobium hybrid in a fast draining basket and it does well. And a "typical" D. nobile which is the species or a NOID hybrid. Dont' know what. That D nobile is potted in nothing - nothing, just hangs from a wire. I suggested to my husband that it be basketed and he insists "no." He picked it up- out of a "free" pile at an orchid sale at a local college. It has been bare root since then, at least 8 years ago. It gets hung outside in full sun all summer, and dunked in the fertilizer solution I use outside. Then brought into the cool (tiny) g'house where it gets some over-spray and hung close to the glass.
It blooms - go figure. Temps drop to low 40s in the winter at night.

Cool temps in the northeast I think are not as much of a problem as lack of light. Our days are short and many overcast which I notice has an effect on the slow and incomplete opening of blossoms. Heck, no plant is actively growing without light. (oh, maybe a few parasitic....)

My focus will be to acquire (if I can't hold myself back) plants which thrive and not just tolerate the miserable winter conditions. Laelia anceps is a star here!

Cypripediums in the ground - yes, in the woods (I like to hunt them down) and many folks buy propagated Cyps (the North American cousins of Asian Paphs) either species or hybrids. I have not branched out to that yet as my outdoor gardens are big enough. Cyps stay in the ground- you don't tote them off to shows. ; -)

Good luck!

'Nuf said for now
Maryanne in Chilly Massachusetts