Den. kingianum problem

[Phyrex]

I have had this guy for a long time. It sprouted some roots on the top of the larger cane, then finally sprouted a new growth. Now the roots have died and the last of the two leaves has dropped from the small growth (bottom left of the larger one). Can I still save this guy, or should I give up on him? The root system is not optimal but it has 5-8 healthy roots in the medium.

[Roy]

My observation is that its ready for the waste basket. I know many growers show some fine kingianums grown in confined conditions like grow cases or basements etc but Den kingianum is really not an 'Indoor' plant. They love the 'out doors' with lots of breeze, water in summer and dryish in winter. Kingies can make keikeis at the drop of a hat wether healthy or not. They are also slow to respond with growth if the compost is too coarse and the pot too big particularly with the size piece you have, it should have been in a 2 inch pot with a fine mix. A pot the size your using would suit a plant of 10 canes atleast.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I would have to agree.

Dendrobium kingianum can tolerate temperature extremes taking care no to expose them to frost or freezing temperatures.

The one you show in your picture was overpotted.

[Blueszz]

You could try to unpot it, remove any dead roots and lay it on (prefered life) sphagnum moss. I've canes like this, they have occasionally been regrowing roots and all of them made new growths. Because it's growing season now, you might be succesful.

On the other hand, before you have a nice plant again takes a few years :-) and I don't know if you want to wait that long. You could considder it as an experiment to learn from, otherwise I would trash it and buy a new plant.
I can't throw canes away and try to grow new plants from them :-)
I'll upload some pictures for you.

[Blueszz]

Here the pictures of the canes I have right now. I ordered a Den. kingianum online and the plant suffered from severe root rot and came with aphids. It was in a very bad shape. When I inspected and cleaned up the roots these canes fell off - I was desperate to safe the plant so I tried to regrow these canes too.
As you can see, they revived, althoug it took a bit longer than multiple cane divisions with leafs.






Nicole

[Roy]

Minor comment on the new roots, they are coming from the new growths only. The old canes do not make new roots.

[Blueszz]

You are right Roy, the canes I showed in the pictures above only have new roots from the new growths, but I have several allready potted and they made new roots from the old canes - but I'm not going to unpot them for pictures only I'm way to happy these rooted
The ones pictured above are the ones that struggled more and longer than the others and took longer to regrow. The rest is potted allready.
I might have pictures on my computer with re-rooted old canes, I'm not sure. If so, I'm happy to share them with you.

Nicole

[Phyrex]

Dank je wel Nicole, jouw foto's geven me hoop. Ik ben in Roemond opgegroeit voor dat ik naar Canada kwam

[Blueszz]

Originally Posted by Phyrex

Dank je wel Nicole, jouw foto's geven me hoop. Ik ben in Roemond opgegroeit voor dat ik naar Canada kwam

What a nice surprise Richard! :-) If you want to try I would advise life sphagnum moss - if you are able to get it. The single canes are in an aquarium where I grow sphagnum. They are there now for about three weeks.
I started with the canes laying aside, waiting if it would give me new growths. Once the growths were about 1/4 - 1/2 cm I sort of potted them in dried Sphagnum moss which I kept moist. I checked them every now and then and once I noticed new roots I kept monitoring them as I wasn't familiar with growing in sphagnum.
The loose canes even were outside during the winter as I tried different climates (I had three divisions and maybe 5 single canes) and hoped at least I could get 1 new growth. I think these canes needed so long because it are single canes and because they spent a few weeks between 5 - 10C.

I wished Cites wasn't a problem, otherwise I would be happy to send you a rooted division with new growths - and I could send you the life sphag too.

If your cane still has some good roots, pot it in a smaller pot. I would say seedling size pot, for instance 5,5 cm.

Bye, Nicole
(Geboare in Gelaen mèr noe ein Zittesj maedje!)

PS below a re-rooted mature cane, but I have to admit it didn't happen always. The majority of the new roots grew from new growths.

[Phyrex]

I put it on a wet towel and under some sphag. Hopefully it'll do something.