Purchased a Dendrobium orchid from Safeway in August of 2009. This was my first orchid ever. Still have the card that was stuck in it, but there is no more information about the type of dendrobium on it. I was told by the florist that this was an easy orchid to maintain and needed very little watering. Once a week, about an ice cube size, and I was good. I live in Southwest WA.
Beautiful plant, did very well, till it got knocked over by the cat fell off the TV stand. It broke one of the flower stems off which eventually turned yellow/brown and I cut it off with sterile scissors.
The cat knocked it off another stand about a month later and broke the top off one of the stems which had four flowers on it, and I cut it off with sterile scissors before it yellowed.
Then I moved the plant to a place where I thought the cat might not get it, but she did and chewed on the leaves. Now I don't have that cat!
(Don't get mad, it was about more than just the orchid, she didn't get along with my infant)
Then the orchid in the new spot developed dark brown/black round spots that grew in size and were soft in the middle. I bought a fungicide/insecticide (don't have a lot of options in a small town). THe growth started to slow, but I decided to torture it some more and cut off the parts of the leaf with the spots (as it also moved to another leaf on the same pseudobulb) and replant it. The florist told me to replant it in a slighter bigger pot once flowering was done, and I read in another forum that once it got the fungus to cut it off as well.
The replanting was at the same time I bought a Phalaeonopsis Orchid that needed to be replanted. I used Miracle Grow orchid plant mix and didn't upgrade too much on the pot size but made sure it had good drainage and good air flow but wasn't too loose. Also since the florist told me to replant after growth I also decided to cut off all the flower stems. The flowers on the stems were starting to wrinkle and yellow and fall off.
So now I have this plant that looks like it's growing and doing healthy especially the two smaller psuedobulbs, but the one psuedobulb in particular that had the black spots has lost all but one of the leaves but it's almost to the point of the others that it's yellowed enough to start to come loose. And now the largest psuedobulb on the plant as very small black marks (not like the other larger black spots) and the lowers leaves are wrinkling and turning yellow.
When I replanted it I looked a the roots and they were a beige/brown and only a few had slight, very light green to the tips (if none at all for the majority) Before the replanting some of the roots were growing out the top of the plant and were all brown and dryish. But there were a lot of roots, not soft, mushy ones, solid and looked ok.
I've spent the last couple of weeks trying to find similiar situations on the internet where I might be able to get some help but besides a few pictures I cannot seem to find anyone with the same problem or if I think I do there are no pictures. I am going to post pictures of mine for some help!!
I understand that some dendrobiums are decidious (sp?) and so there leaves naturally fall off, but I think my understanding is that right now it's too early for that. It's supposed to happen in February or May?? As you can see the plant is getting taller- should I even be worried?
Dendrobium orchid, been abused by cat, now don't know what to do??
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