non-blooming Dendrobium

[Tishness1509]

i think i have a dendrombium orchid but im not sure, i have had several paphiopedilum orchids in the past and they bloomed just fine but i have had this dend for over a year almost and i cant seem to get it to bloom. I bought it at lowes last year off the Clerenced rack and i brought it home with me, it had no flower's on it then and still dosen't i would love to know how to get it to bloom so i can see what color the flowers are, i have been watering it every 10 to 14 day so i dont over water it. and Im scared to re plant it because last time i replanted one in a bigger pot it died but i think it was dieing before i re planted it cause it only had a few silver/green roots left cause it came from walmart and was soaked in water when i bought it i tried to dry it out before i replanted it but i guess it's time was up! So im really trying to avoid replanting this one cause i want to keep it a long time!! i will also attach some pictures below to show what it looks like. again | Flickr - Photo Sharing!Dend Orchid | Flickr - Photo Sharing! cut off stem | Flickr - Photo Sharing! roots after watering | Flickr - Photo Sharing! DSCN0444 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
I also have some all purpose plant food that is 6-10-10 i was putting on my old orchids before they died but i didn't know if i could put it on this one as well cause i didnt know if that is what killed my old one please help me out.plant food 6-10-10 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

[sailortom2]

is there any holes in the bottem of that pot? i would recomend repotting in some orchid mix...just not the miracle grow mix tho...to fine kinda like dirt

[Anisa]

Sometimes young dendrobiums need to mature to bloom. I know that Lowes sell bag babies - young orchids. Those need several years to reach blooming size. Was it one of those?
Also your dendrobium looks slightly dehydrated.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

1. Most Dendrobiums are fairly difficult to grow in full on moss.

In the wild, most Dendrobiums don't grow on moss covered trees. Occasionally some species do, but most don't.

Here's the evidence:

Dendrobium lamellatum | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Dendrobium secundum - Brush Orchid | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I'd remove that and use a small grade bark.

2. Does that pot have holes or enough drainage holes?

3. Does the plant have any living roots at all?

Please don't assume it has roots based on the fact that your plant is still alive. Orchids can still retain green stems and leaves while seemingly looking healthy without roots for a long period of time.

4. Watering every 10 - 12 days might be stretching it if it's growing in full swing during growing season.

5. I think the pot's too big. Dens like to be grown pot bound.

6. What are the temperatures at which it is growing (day/night/seasonal)?

7. Without a flower, it's difficult to tell which section of Dendrobium it belongs to. Which makes nailing down specific cultural requirements very difficult.

8. How often are you fertilizing and at what concentration?

9. What kind of fertilizer are you using (brand, N-P-K ration, urea free - yes or no)?

10. Your Dendrobium is most likely a man-made hybrid.

11. Most Dendrobiums typically have a winter rest period.

Some species do not have a true winter rest period at all, but that is atypical of most Dendrobium species.

12. This is also not typically blooming season for most Dens.

Very few Dens are actually winter blooming. Most fall in the category of being a spring bloomer, or fall bloomer.

Occasionally there are summer bloomers.

Rarely are there winter bloomers.

I don't think yours is a winter bloomer. I think yours is a spring or fall bloomer.

[Tishness1509]

2. Does that pot have holes or enough drainage holes?
A) NO there is no holes in it but because I repotted one from one of these pots before I know there is about a inch at the bottom that doesn’t have anything in it but a foam pnut in the bottom of it, so it has drainage space

3. Does the plant have any living roots at all?
A) Idk im not going to go digging in it and kill it to find out. (look at the pictures please cause I don’t really know how to tell).

Please don't assume it has roots based on the fact that your plant is still alive. Orchids can still retain green stems and leaves while seemingly looking healthy without roots for a long period of time.
A)It has been green like that for over a year it has to have roots somewhere my last one took only 3 months to die so it has to be alive to still be living 1 yr later the two dead steams are yellow already so I think I would know by now if it was dead.

4. Watering every 10 - 12 days might be stretching it if it's growing in full swing during growing season.
A)Well it sits in my mom’s bathroom window so she tries to water it once a week and if she tells me she has not watered it I will and I poor water in it and let the moss soak it up before I sit it back in the window.

5. I think the pot's too big. Dens like to be grown pot bound.
A)The pot is only as tall at the length of my hand and an inch in the bottom is empty for the drainage so is it still to big for the plant I don’t want to re plant it in a smaller pot and risk breaking the roots by shoving it in a smaller pot

6. What are the temperatures at which it is growing (day/night/seasonal)?
A)In the day the lowest it gets the winter is about 62.F night it gets about 49-54.F in and in the summer it’s about 74.F night and about 74-80.F in the day

8. How often are you fertilizing and at what concentration?
A)If u read the bottom if my first post it says “I also have some all purpose plant food that is 6-10-10 i was putting on my old orchids before they died but i didn't know if i could put it on this one as well cause i didnt know if that is what killed my old one please help me out. plant food 6-10-10 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!”

9. What kind of fertilizer are you using (brand, N-P-K ration, urea free - yes or no)?
A) Pennington all purpose plant food n-p-k 6-10-10 and it does not say urea free and idk what that is so I guess that is in it to.

10. Your Dendrobium is most likely a man-made hybrid.
A)When will I know this when it blooms???

11. Most Dendrobiums typically have a winter rest period.
A) Already knew that im not expecting it to bloom tomorrow but did want to know if it has bloomed before since it looks like a stem was cut off of it before in one if the pic’s I took.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

First thing's first, here's a picture of what healthy living roots on an orchid looks like:

http://www.aboutorchids.com/blog/wp-...ts_1_640px.jpg

Here's a brief video on orchid roots:

Understand Orchid Roots: Discover & Appreciate Orchids | eHow.com


Damaged roots tend to delay an orchid's bloom cycle and adversely affects the health of the plant, this is why I put special emphasis on the roots first.


1. I highly recommend repotting to a pot that actually has real drainage holes.

A pot with no drainage holes, is bad news for an orchid's roots.

If you look at the photo of the Dendrobiums growing in the wild, you'll see just how much air the roots are receiving. It's a lot.

My potted Dendrobiums are all potted in pots with drainage holes.

I also have Dendrobiums mounted onto pieces of wood with nothing but the wood itself, left hanging outdoors. The roots are lookin' real good on these even with all that air.

My thoughts are that a 1" drainage space on the bottom of the pot is not good enough, the water will drain down there and settle in there like it does with a septic tank. If you don't actively go and drain the water everyday, that stagnant water is going to go bad very fast. That bacteria and fungus infested water will instantly kill off any living roots on your orchid within days.

2. I think you're going to have to dig in there and do some investigating of whether your plant has any living roots on it anyways based off of what you told me and what I had just said above.

Your pictures while very clear does not show whether the Dendrobium has roots or not. It is very difficult to make an accurate assessment about your plant without knowing without a doubt that your plant's roots are alive and intact.

My assessment of your situation is, you're going to have to take that plant out of it's pot whether you want to or not, and whether the plant likes it or not, or that thing has a very low chance of survival anyways.

It will not die because you removed it from it's pot to check on the health of its roots.

Just because the previous Dendrobium died within 3 months under your care, only means that it had about 3 months of life left when you purchased it. It could've been rootless and about to die at the place you bought it from for several weeks to several months already. It could've been rootless and about to die at the wholesale nursery for months already, who knows. I had a rootless Dendrobium last for 6 months or so.

3. It is still too big.

You will not risk breaking any roots "by shoving it into a smaller pot". The pot only needs to be a snug fit for the root mass, not much smaller where you're having a great deal of trouble getting the plant's roots in there.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

4. Winter day temperatures of 62 F, and winter night temperatures of 49 F - 54 F; and summer day temperatures of 74 F - 80 F, and summer night temperatures of 74 F is a bit on the cool side. Without knowing which kind of Dendrobium it is, it's hard to say whether they will tolerate this temperature range or not. And if it does tolerate this temperature range, I can't tell whether it is warm enough for them to initiate a spike.

5. Your fertilizer...

I'm not familiar with the brand of your fertilizer.

The N-P-K ratio is fine.

You'll find out whether it is urea free or not on the back label in small print where it breaks down the types of nitrogen it utilizes. If you don't see urea on the breakdown of types of nitrogen, then it doesn't have any urea in it.

Urea is a very stable form of nitrogen. It has trouble breaking down in non-soil based substrates (in your case a non-soil based potting media). It has to have microbes break it down to more bioavailable forms of nitrogen for most plants. Some plants can use urea based nitrogen directly, but that is supposedly not very common.

There are 3 forms of nitrogen:

a.) Ammoniacal Nitrogen
b.) Nitrate Nitrogen
c.) Urea Nitrogen

Ammoniacal nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen are the ones that most plants take up very readily.

An orchid grower's recommended concentration of fertilizer to use would be 1/2 the recommended concentration of that on the product label of your fertilizer, every week, just to be safe.

Too strong a concentration of fertilizer has a tendency to burn the root tips.

Not fertilizing can also cause delays in blooming.

6. Yes, you'll know for sure whether it is a species or a man-made hybrid when it blooms.

However...

If your plant didn't come with a tag, there are certain clues, such as where you bought it from.

For instance...

You said you bought the plant from the clearance rack at Lowe's.

Well...

It most likely is a man-made hybrid. Lowe's usually sells man-made hybrids of Dendrobiums, most of the times.

Just the fact that it didn't come with a tag, is a clue in-and-of-itself, and most likely points in the direction of it being a man-made hybrid.

7. It's most likely bloomed prior.

8. The type of light it receives was not mentioned in your post. Although, you did mention that it was being grown in your bathroom.

So...

If it has bright indirect light, the lighting is adequate.

Inadequate lighting causes non-blooming. And prolonged exposure to inadequate lighting will cause it to die over a long period of time.

9. Once everything has been adjusted, watering frequency has to be adjusted as well.

10. It looks like you need to be changing out the potting medium anyways. If you haven't changed out the potting media in a year, then it's time.

Rotting potting media or potting media that has gone bad is no good for the roots of epiphytical orchids.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

One final note:

If the basis of the plant selection is mostly based on flower production, it is incorrect.

Flowers are the plant's genitalia. It is impossible to judge an organism's overall health based on their genitals alone.

Flower production for orchids doesn't necessarily mean it was a strong and healthy plant. It just means that it had enough strength to reproduce.

An orchid can still flower if it is going to die.

How?

It uses up all its remaining energy into flower production as a last ditch effort to bail out its genetic material. If it has enough energy to produce viable seeds that are able to germinate and grow to adulthood, it's done it's job. Most of the times though, this is a futile effort. Rarely will this method of bailout work.

An orchid can still flower just based on external stimuli if it has enough energy, regardless of whether it's on its way out or not.

For example...

Phals just need a 1-2 week temperature drop down to temperatures in the 60's F to 70's F, and then a temperature increase to temperatures in the 70's F to 90 F to initiate a spike. Nurseries do this all the time with Phals, that's why you always see them in bloom all year round, when the reality is most only bloom once or twice a year if they're left to naturally bloom themselves.

How do I know this?

I used to work at an orchid nursery and that was part of the training.

Disclaimer: I don't condone the repeated use of artificially inducing Phalaenopsis to bloom all year round. It is taxing on your plant, and it could exhaust itself to death if done too much.