Burned dendrobium

[flyfishdoc]

I was really lucky with my first orchids thru summer, putting them outside beginning in July and not burning up anything! I bought a dendrobium (the tag says 'Sunrise Petite') a month ago from the grocery store. It had beautiful purple flowers just opening from the spike. It was in the deli section for who knows how long. Obviously longer than I thought. I took it home and put it in the south facing kitchen window which has some plants on the window sill to partially block the sun (the 2 phals there for 2 months have done well, 1 just dropped the last flower today and has already been in spike for a week, the other just dropped it's first flower today). Anyway, I fried it in a 2 days. The spike has dried. I have been watering it every other week, water only. It is in total shade in a bright room. I am going to cut the spike off now that it is totally dried out. Am I doing right? What do I do differently if needed until I see growth?

[isurus79]

Im no expert on hard cane Dendros, but it looks like your plant has gone dormant. Watering only 2x per month is also a good way to send your plant into dormancy! Wait until you see new growth that is a few inches tall and then water more frequently, maybe 2x per week? I dont know your conditions or the media its potted in, but you will probably need to water more frequently than you are now! I would slowly introduce your plant to brighter and brighter conditions to get it used to higher levels of light. Do it slowly though! Orchids burn just like people.

[flyfishdoc]

I am growing this in our sun room, which is south facing, windows on east, south and west. It has double windows east and west and triple windows south side, so morelike a porch, except is heated. It gets to lower 60s at night, I can get it to 80s in the day if I close the french doors (provided there is sun). I did not repot it. The bark looks small, not real fresh. It could use new medium probably.

Are you suggesting watering more often now?

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by flyfishdoc

Are you suggesting watering more often now?

I wouldnt start watering more until you have a new growth that is a few inches tall. Then you can repot and water more often. My guess would be that this will happen sometime in the spring. If you start seeing the canes shriveling a lot, then you'll need to bump up the watering regimine a bit. I need to tell you though, these types of dendrobiums are not my specialty so be vigilant!

[Becca]

Well I was going to try and look up some info on this one on OrchidWiz, but when I try searching for Dendrobium Sunrise Petite I don't get anything. I also tried searching for it on Google and didn't find anything either

[Lagoon]

Don't know if I'm just seeing things, but, it looks like the 2nd largest cane has a couple of small nodes beginning

[snow]

good eyesight gloria.
that,s what i thought.

[flyfishdoc]

I went home today and checked my plant. I think you are seeing effects from the picture. I sure hope I am wrong, but the canes are smooth and round, firm. The papery sheath covering must have given off a reflection. If you 2 are right (and I hope you are) then I will post new pictures in the next few weeks

[Sandy4453]

All Dends except for the decidious ones, need more water than every other week IF they're receiving the temps you've stated plus the exposure to light you say, it's receiving. In warmer months, Dends growing in a regular bark mix, typically should be watered every few days (this depends also on the size of the pot). Now that the weather has cooled, is not the time to start watering more often and I agree with isurus79 to wait till Spring when Dends. will start putting out more roots and growth. The Antelope Dends grow year round and I doubt the one in the pic is one but if you should start seeing growth now then up the watering. If this Dend belongs to the Latourias tribe of Dends, then it should never dry out. I have some Dends that will only get watered every other week as we enter cooler weather but I'm growing outdoors and in much less light this time of year and, after a summer of high light and heavy watering. I believe you should be watering at at least once a week in the conditions you're providing and repot after new growth has begun, first. One more thing to consider when you do repot...a smaller pot = less bark = faster drying = roots not being kept wet for too long = happy Dends!