Growing in the NT, Australia

[lais817]

G'day guys, I'm from Darwin in the Northern territory of Australia, and I"ve just started to get into orchids, particularly Dendrobiums. Our local conditions range from about 60-90 in winter and 70-100 in Summer and I wanted to know if it'll do my dens any harm growing in the full sun during summer? They're potted in straight course pine bark and plastic pots with additional holes drilled for air flow.

I've had a tiny little den since I was a little kid that has literally not had a leaf for the past 4-5 years but I've just retrieved it from my parent's place and soaked it in a rooting solution and given it plenty of water and several doses of orchid fertiliser and it has just put out either a keiki at the base or a new cane. Anything I can do to further help it along? It's growing in about 70% shade in coarse pine bark and watered daily.

Also, a friend gave me a keiki off the cane of one of his dens which was severely shriveled (the cane, not the keiki). It has two long aerial roots which are a golden colour, even when soaked in water (I'm guessing they're dead?) and two leaves a few inchs in length which have a yellowish tinge to them. How is the best way to get this bugger to grow?

Thanks in advance, and greetings from sunny Aus!

Also, my g/f was given a Vanda in bloom, and got a little neglected for a week or two when our housemates 'forgot' to water it a few months ago. It lost a few roots and spike and the leaves are now all shriveled. I've soaked it a few times both in plain water and in water with dilute fertiliser and Seasol (Aussie seaweed solution with growth stims) and also sprayed it with Indole Acetic acid and Naphthalene Acetic acid solution to try stimulate some new root growth. Am I doing this right as it has really nice flowers!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

1. I believe your Dendrobiums should be okay in your temperatures.

2. Since I don't know what kind of Dens you own, I can't say what else you can do to see if it'll grow better.

3. In Oz, you've got Den speciosa and Den kingianum and all their hybrids that'll do wonders for you. I believe Den canaliculatum and Den carronii also comes from the land of Oz if I'm not mistaken.

4. Spraying your Vanda with IAA and NAA may do something (don't know what exactly in your case, they're supposed to stimulate root growth), but it's not suggested that you keep doing it.

[lais817]

Thanks for the quick reply mate, any ideas on how to get the keiki my mate gave me to flourish but?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Your friend's keiki doesn't sound like it's gonna live long, but I could be wrong.

It's best to post a pic of to have a look see.

If you do get a small keiki from your friend again, I suggest mounting it/them. A piece of wood (a piece of cork or a branch from a hard wood tree that doesn't wreak of natural phyto-chemicals should do) and a little New Zealand Sphag would do the trick. Make sure they've got long enough roots though (about 1"/2.5 cm at the very least, the longer the better obviously).

Otherwise if it's a bigger keiki, you can pot it up in a thumb pot with small grade (seedling grade) bark. I don't know what kind of arts and crafts stores you guys have down under, but here in the US there's an arts and crafts chain store called Michael's that carries an assortment of functioning small terra cotta pots (from 1"/2.5 cm on up) in their flower arrangement section.

[lais817]

Pics! First is the wilted Vanda, second the keiki, and yes, it was cut from a cane, not a spike, that's how shriveled it was! (Cane remnant is pretty much in line with my finger)

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Oh, okay...

Now I know why your Den keiki turned "yellow". It's from heavy sun exposure. This is normal when it gets a lot of light, but is still within it's tolerable range. You can give it a bit more shade and it'll eventually turn back to a more normal shade of green.

The roots on the Den is good enough to work with. I'd mount that onto a piece of wood with just enough moss to thinly cover them up (don't need too much moss). My opinion is that it'd be too awkward to pot (length of roots and density of root mass relative to the size of the cane makes it difficult to pot without overpotting it).

The Vanda doesn't look good. I don't know what to tell you. It may not make it if it has no living roots at all. If it's got even a couple strong ones, that's enough to keep it alive until you can get it to put out more healthy roots.

[Roy]

G'day from down south. Your Vanda is of the type when fully mature & healthy that can take very strong light, lots of water and humidity. Without flowers its a bit hard to give it a name but many of these Vandas are used in Landscaping in Hawaii & Thailand, even in Nth Qld. Get the roots growing again and give it about 30% shade up there and it should be fine. They are very hard to kill in your conditions provided you keep the moisture up. Your not far off the wet season so it should hang on.

[lais817]

Thanks Roy, I've got an ID tag on the Vanda, so all is good. Good to see another Aussie on here!