Dendrobium Nobile Shriveling Stems

[DendrobiumPenguin]

Hello, all. New here. And taking care of my first Dendrobium nobile. I've had some luck with my two other dendrobiums, but they aren't deciduous.

The tag says the plant is a Dendrobium {nobile type} hybrid.
I've had it over a year. Before last winter it dropped all of its leaves. Then, about midsummer it got some tiny new growth on it, only for it to shrivel away once fall came again. Now the stalks are yellow and shriveling. The bulbs, however, aren't shriveled, and the roots around them turn green when watered.

The plant gets southern exposure, plus an LED fishtank light for 8-12 hours/day. The average temperature it gets in the winter is around 65-68 degrees F. I try to water it with a spray bottle once or twice a week. I have never fertilized. It is potted in orchid bark and perlite, and has been repotted into the same mix (just loosened and the broken down stuff thrown out) a couple times.

By contrast, my happiest dendrobium gets eastern exposure with no artificial light, but otherwise the same temperatures and watering habits. (The other dendrobium gets the same southern exposure as the nobile)

I want it to live, but I think it's getting down to it's last legs. What can I do to save it?

EDIT: Photo here:

[rbarata]

A photo would be helpful as it speaks for a thousand words.
Usually nobiles need heavy water as soon as new growths start poking. Until then water only when the pbulbs start to shrivel.
It's frequent to new growers of nobiles to panicking when they see what is just normal behaviour. I'm sure thare's no problems with your plant but a photo would be great.

[aliceinwl]

Pictures would definitely help. I’m not clear on exactly what’s shriveled and what’s plump. This time of year Dendrobium nobiles are often trying to go dormant so depending on timing of your repotting etc. it might be spring before the plant starts to respond in any significant way.

[rbarata]

My nobile is now opening the first flowers. Around late March, beginning of April it will grow new growths.

[DendrobiumPenguin]

I have uploaded a photo of the base of the plant. Thank you for your response! I hope you are right and it will come back this spring. I will continue to watch it closely.

---------- Post added at 10:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 PM ----------

Thanks for your reply. The stems are shriveled, but the bulb-y area doesn't look too horrible. Thin and small (for my mental image of a bulb), but not all shirvely like the stems. I posted a photo of the base of the plant where the new growth was.

---------- Post added at 10:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:36 PM ----------

Unfortunately, mine has no flowers, nor any sign of them. I am just hoping it will produce healthy leaves this year.

[camille1585]

Welcome to Orchidboard, though a shame you didn't join for a more cheerful reason!

The visible parts of the plant in the photo look rather dead unfortunately. I"m uncertain what you mean by bulbs and stalks since a dendrobium growth is a (pseudo)bulb from top to bottom...
Can you also post a photo of the entire plant? I think the first step would be to unpot and check the state of the roots. That new growth likely died to lack of water, which is either caused by not enough watering, or no viable roots to take up water with.

If I understood correctly the only water it gets is from twice a week misting with a spray bottle? If so, that's was probaly far from being enough, especially as the plant gets southern exposure AND supplemental lighting. It really is much better to get the medium good and wet each watering by either soaking the pot in the sink/bucket, or running water through the pot. Spraying IMO, is only good enough for keeping the superficial roots from dying out too much between waterings.

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[Dollythehun]

Agreed w Camille. It looks bone dry and has been for awhile.

[DendrobiumPenguin]

Thanks for the replies and the welcome. Maybe in the future I'll be able to post flowers instead of wiliting plants.

I took a couple more photos. This time of the whole plant and another of the base of it. I added them to the original post.

There was a tiny bit of it turning green when I watered it in the morning in the sink as suggested so I hope that means there's hope. How often should I be doing this? I know it's supposed to be dormant in winter but I feel like if I ignore it now I'll just finish the poor thing off.

[aliceinwl]

It’s tough to tell if it’s just algae on the roots that is greening up or if there are some live roots. If there is some live tissue it may be able to send up new growth from the base, but it’s looking like it may be dead. I’d go ahead and give it a good watering as soon as the media goes dry for awhile and hopefully you’ll see some sign of life.

It’s tough, but I think anyone growing orchids for any length of time (myself included) will have a few losses and even if you lose the plant it won’t be a total loss if you learn something in the process.