dendrobium won't bloom, and not sure why.....

[imgliniel]

Hello all, Fist let me say HI! I am new this place looks awesome and I am hoping that someone can help me.

I have a dendrobium that won't bloom and I am not sure why. I am not sure if it is just not the season for it to bloom yet or if I am doing something wrong?

Details, It is potted in bark chips, placed in a south facing window that has a somewhat eastern exposure. It get bright indirect light all day and in the morning it gets some slivers of dappled direct light, maybe an hours worth. It gets watered thoroughly once a week (I let the faucet run to flush out any disolved salts etc), and ussually gets close to dry but not completely dry between waerings. It is in a bathroom where I take my nightly shower (and I take long showers) so it gets a fair does of humidity.

It seems to be happy and healthy other then the lack of flowers. It pushed a bunch of new roots this spring and a second cane wich appears to be robust and doing well. It is almost as big as the first one now. It did not lose any leaves over the winter so I am fairly certain it is an evergreen type. But unfortunately when I bout it there was no cultivar/species tag so I don't know what it is. The flowers it had when I got it were wery round and wide compared to the pics of alot of dendi's I'v seen so I think it migh be a dendi/phal. I only know it is a dendrobium because at one point I saw a bouquet of flowers with the same blossom shape (that weird little backfacing spike) labeled as such.

It's neighbor, my pink and white phal is putting on a beautiful display of over 20 flowers and has been blooming strong since at least february, so I am not sure what is up with the dendi Being new to Orchids (these 2 are my first successes, my first orchid was a phal and I sunburned it, sad day) I am not sure what I am doing wrong.

Any ideas? (yes I can take pictures if that will help anyone).

thanks!
Imgliniel

[Call_Me_Bob]

pictures would help, but i am new to dendrobium so i wont be of any help sorry

[slimjim]

have u tried to give it a cooldown period? i was looking at how to care for dendrobium, and on ehow it says it needs 20 degrees difference between day and night temps. But i dunno if this is correct or not for i'm new to orchids

[camille1585]

Having two threads for the same thing is a bit confusing, and people may not read the information contained in the other thread. To help people out, the other thread is here: http://www.orchidboard.com/community...-sure-why.html

[imgliniel]

thanks camille, I have never posted here before so I was not sure which place to put this.

[Orchid126]

It sounds like your den is not getting enough sun. It should be right up agains that south window with no curtain. Also, what type of den is it? Are the old bloom spikes at the tip? If so, then it's a den-phal type. If they're up and down the cane then it's a nobile, and requires a completely different treatment. Until we know, it's difficult to advise on it's culture.

[stefpix]

I have started with such Dendrobiums I got as a close out for a dollar at Lowes last year and they are growing OK esp one in a coco husk, lots of new canes but no blooms at alll. One in the fire escape, outside full sun. One leaf has sunburn even but no blooms. BUt I bloomed Dendrobium sulcatum, D. Hamana Smile [kingianum among the parents and kingianum looking], and Den aphyllum [just saw a off season bud + new growth on a 4 inch keiki that i thought was was dead]. But those hard cane are not blooming. Give more light - close to the window [although in the late spring early summer the sun is high in the sky and the rays do not enter much a southern window... very indirect light]. Anyway Imgliniel, your Dendrobium is way too far from teh glass. Could maybe be ok for a Phalaenopsis. If you have a patio or balcony or an outdoor ledge i would give it some sun.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Just wait it out, it may put out a spike in about a month and bloom during the middle of summer, idk.

I wouldn't expose it to much more light than what you've said you have them under.

I think it's a time issue. Particularly if you said they just came out with new roots.

Oh...

And resist the temptation to over water Dendrobiums. They don't need too much of it. In the wild, they're usually found on trees with lichens not moss (there may be exceptions depending on the species of Dendrobium, but for the most part they're not found on moss laden trees).

[imgliniel]

Hello all!

Thank you everyone for the help!

What I am doing for now is this, it seems the concensus is that it needs more light. Considering it peaked close to 100 this weekend, I am scared to move it outside, lol. So for now, It stays in the south/eastern window during the day (I leave for work before dawn) but I moved it to the windowsill itself (turns out the sill is wide enough, yeah!). Then when I get home in the early afternoon I move it to the front room window before the sun comes through the window. So it then gets the 1-2 hours direct light in the evening. So it hould be getting at least 2 hours direct light, and probably closer to 4. I'll do this for a couple weeks and see if I see any improvement and report back.

[Orchid126]

One other thing. This is the main growing season for most dens, so as King says, time will tell.