Advice needed on my Dendrobiums

[greg32]

Hi there ,

I am very new to orchids (first year), and my cyms are doing really well. Sadly, I don't think I can say the same about my denros. I live in Melbourne Australia. This last summer has been rather hard on our plants, and it does not help that we are in water restrictions due to drought. Throughout summer, we have experienced temperatures as high as 45 deg c (113 deg F) and as low as 10 deg c (50 deg F). Strong drying winds on some days, high humidity on others. I have read a lot of info on growing denros, but it seems something is going wrong.

Flowering was beautiful in mid to late spring, no problems there, and after flowering, lots of new growth has come through. This leads me to my question. All the new growth is hardening off now (we are one month into autumn), but the new growth is in some cases only 1/3 the size of the orriginal plant. Is this normal, or are my plants new growth (2 different varieties, 5 different pots) stunted? Sorry if that sounds silly. Also, a couple of them have leaves curling up on themselves (green and healthy looking, just curled up and around). One lot is Bardot Rose, the other one is unidentified, but exactly the same as the Bardot Rose, just slightly different shade of white with purple hints. They were both very much pot bound, and had tonnes of 'kiki's' coming off them, hence I divided them once flowering was finished. Due to the extremes of the weather, I am lost as to what it may be, and don't want to alter anything I do until I get some advice as to what I might be doing wrong. I water them once every 3 days (water restrictions). They are located in a full shade spot, with no direct sunlight, but it is well lit (quite bright, sun falls not more than half a meter away) under the eves of my house. They have been given fertiliser every 3-4 weeks. The location is relatively well protected from strong wind. Some of the leaves have light brown spots on them as well, but the remainder of the leaf is green. Also is it normal for there to be new growth still coming up at this late stage of the year, as two pots have a couple of 'late' sprouters.

Any help is appreciated. If needed I can post some photos by request.

Thanks

Greg

[Shadow]

Hello and welcome!
It is not normal when new bulbs are smaller than last year bulbs. May be something wrong with your fertiliser? By the way, when dendrs are growing they need to be fertilised more often, approximately every two weeks. The strength depends on particular specie or hybrid.

[greg32]

Shadow,

thanks for the welcome! I didn't think it was normal. Just one thing I did forget to mention, is that I also have slow release pellets in the media, which is why I only liquid fertilize once per month, just for the extra boost. But, I will take your advice and maybe give half strength every two weeks?

Cheers

Greg

[justatypn]

I am not convienced that time released fert is the way to go with orchids...keeps one out of control of a fert regimen. Personally I would remove/repot if needed those little balls, flush your orchid and start on a controlled fert regimen. It is hard to tell what is going on with the brown spots, can you post a ?