Dendrobium with two dead keikis and a new growth - Orchid Board

orchidbuds · #1 03-31-2013, 03:17 PM

Hello everyone, I am a newbie who just joined the OB. I have found really helpful stuff from your forums that have helped me to understand growing orchids ever since last year when I brought my first orchid. Now I have about 13!

All of them are phals except for this one Den. I don't know what type it is. I got it last October from a lady who was giving them ( few phals+the den) away to someone who can take care of them since she was afraid she was killing them. It looked dead when I brought it home but after browsing the internet, I realized its just resting. It also had a dead keki and a new one growing from the top of an old cane. It was potted in bark medium that was white with what I thought was water residue. So I repotted it in to a smaller pot with fresh bark medium.
After a few weeks, the keiki dropped it leaves and started looking dead as its mother! I tried misting and I think it kept growing its roots but there were no leaves. At the beginning of February I gave the mother plant a dose of bloom booster and now I see it has a new shoot coming from the bottom! I am so happy cos I was beginning to think I had killed my first orchid (phew!). But the keikis still look dead and I am not sure what to do with them. Should I leave the keikis as they are or should I remove them and plant them? Also, what should I do with the new growth? Will the old canes still bloom? Is there anything else I can do to help them? Any advice will be highly appreciated!!

Generally, I fertilize all my orchids once a week when I water them using a Miracle-gro 12-4-8 liquid plant food and once a month (during spring) with better-gro 11-35-15 bloom booster. They are all kept in a south-east facing window and I mist them every morning and afternoon.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #2 03-31-2013, 03:34 PM

This is most likely one of those Dendrobiums that not only go through a rest period, but also go fully deciduous.

The thing that's most important about caring for a Dendrobium is knowing which section your Dendrobium is a part of. Once you get familiarized with a certain section of the genus Dendrobium, you will start to see some patterns that are more evident. For example, Dendrobiums in the section Stachyobium; most are micro-minis or minis, many go dormant during the winter, and many go fully deciduous either at the end of fall/beginning of winter or in the middle of winter. If there are any outliers, you just take that into account and there you go, you have a basic understanding of Dendrobiums in the section Stachyobium - enough to get you through a majority of the ones offered for sale in the trade.

With that said...

Do not remove the keiki on the top of the cane. It is still alive, but it does not have a strong root system to grow on its own.

Do nothing with the growth coming from the base, it is growing. Its removal will mean its death.

Spring is already here, so start watering normally, and hopefully everything will be ok.

If I had to guess, this Dendrobium might be in the section Dendrobium, the same section that includes species such as Dendrobium nobile.

FSUOrchids · #3 03-31-2013, 07:06 PM

Your plant is fine, you can see that smaller growth near the base of the pot is indicative of new growth. I have one that is very similar to this one, and it loses all of its leaves in the winter. Just treat it normally and it will be fine.

orchidbuds · #4 03-31-2013, 09:03 PM

Thank you both for your advice!. It is true that knowing the orchid type is the key to taking care of them. I will read about Dendrobium Stachyobium to get a better idea of their behavior so I know what to expect with seasonal changes. In the meantime, I'll take your advice and keep treating it normally during spring+summer as I would do with my Phalaenopsis : )

NYCorchidman · #5 04-01-2013, 12:52 AM

He gave dendrobium stachyobium as an example.

However, I am almost certain your den is what is commonly called "phal" type.
I think I see at least one dried and dead old spike on one of the canes. Do the canes feel soft or hard?
These are not supposed to go all bare like that all together. They maintain leaves for a few years.
The previous owner must have kept the plant too dry for too long or overwatered the plant. or some other cause...
Take the plant out of the pot and see how the roots look.
The fact that you are seeing a new growth means it is at least trying to grow and start life all over again.
If all goes well, this new growth will grow larger and even flower around this fall.
These types usually flower again and again from the old canes, but with the condition your plant is in, I'm not sure if that will happen. but you never know.

Bloom booster isn't necessary. It needs nitrogen to grow large at this stage, so I would use balanced fertilizer or high nitrogen fertilizer.

orchidbuds · #6 04-01-2013, 11:04 AM

Hi NYCorchidman, maybe you are right. I thought it has two dead looking keikis but only one has roots. It was the one that had leaves when I got this. But the other one was already dried up like that. So I assumed it must have been another dead keiki.

The canes feel hard. The skins looks dried out and flaky but around the nodes they look green. I checked the roots and found they are white and hard (I'll post pics when I get home). The roots near the top of the base are white and hollow and somebody has trimmed them to about 1 inch long. Maybe its the previous owner, I dont know but I was shocked to see that. Poor thing.. I hope it survives.

My regular fertilizer is high in Nitrogen. But is applying that once a week enough? Or should I dilute the content more and feed maybe like 2 times a week instead of one? Its potted in Better-gro bark medium that dry-out fast. So maybe I should at least water twice a week. My Phals. don't seem to mind the once a week watering but maybe the Den. needs more since its de-hydrated?

mattryan · #7 04-01-2013, 11:28 AM

Hello orchidbuds and welome to OB I would just do as you have been...more is not always better! I have a nobile Den and am seeing new growth, but mine has been growing constantly since I got it almost 2 yrs ago! Your aim is to get the most growth that you can this spring/summer. As soon as you can put it outside protected from direct sun,but early morning and late afternoon sun is excellent once it is acclaimated to it. That should really make it take off in the growth. Don't forget to flush your pot atleast once/month so fert. salts don't build up and burn those new roots. Goodluck I think you will do fine.

Cheryl

terracotta7 · #8 04-01-2013, 01:38 PM

Welcome to OB Orchidbuds! I read your post with interest because I think that dendrobiums can pretty daunting at first. At least for me!

I think the more experienced growers are right: Your plant will be fine if you continue with proper watering and light. Keep us posted.
Just thought I would tell you that I recently got a shipment of orchid seedlings and as I was unwrapping them my son was watching as I opened each one. Finally, I opened my dendrobium victoria-reginae, which looks kind of like your, only even smaller. My son just looked at it, then me, and said "Mom, I think this one is going to be your troublemaker". I tried to point out the new growth coming from the base, but I think the bare, skinny canes were what he was focusing on! Haha. Oh well...he's right...this will be my challenge!
Again, welcome, and hope to "see" you around the forum again!

orchidbuds · #9 04-01-2013, 02:46 PM

Thanks Mattryan and terracota7. I am glad I finally decided to join the forum : )
I heard that Dendrobiums are really confusing specially for beginners but still I went ahead with my rescue mission. The lady would have thrown it out anyway if no one had volunteered to take it in.

Mattryan, I cant put it outside yet because even though the temperature goes to 70 F during the day here near the VB coast, at nights it still goes down to 40+F. I think it'll be stressful for the orchids if I keep moving them back and forth indoors and outdoors. So I'll wait a bit longer and as soon as night times starts to look more comfortable, I'll put them outside. I'll take your advice and stick to my normal watering schedule. I must be doing something right because it decided to put out new growth : )

terracota7, dendrobium victoria-reginae looks like a beauty! I hope you'll get it to bloom soon. I hope both of us will be able to nurse our plants back to good health. I will update this post with my Dens progress.

Thanks both of you for your advice : )

NYCorchidman · #10 04-02-2013, 10:49 PM

Without knowing exactly what it is, it is not a good idea to put it outside at this time.

The fact that roots are fine and the canes feel firm to touch but all the leaves are lost seem quite strange unless this indeed is a kind of deciduous dendrobium.
It could be that the plant might have been briefly exposed to a cold at one point or another, which does cause sudden drop of all the leaves within a few days, but doesn't not kill the plant.

I think as this new growth matures later in season, you will find out.
Dendrobium need a lot of water while growing just like any plants and they need high fertilization for the best result, but continuing on with high nitrogen is not alway the best thing to do. At an early stage, it is alright, but balanced one would be safe to use throughout the growing season.

Weekly fertilization with recommended dilution should be fine.

Oh, and one thing about watering, while it need a lot of water, dendrobiums do not tolerate wet feet very well, so make sure the drainage is excellent.