Dend. aggregatum 1 year and nothing....

[Aki_James]

First off I don't know if I would consider myself a beginner, as far as general orchid care..But I would consider myself a beginner with dendrobiums especially in the callista group.

I have had a dend. aggregatum for a year now. I bought it mounted on some sort of plastic mesh with no other media. I kept it mounted for a couple months but in my home environment it was impossible to keep it watered as the plastic mesh held absolutely no moisture and I was afraid it would die if I did no re-pot. So I re-potted it in clay with medium orchid mix (charc,bark,perlite).

It has been in this pot now for about 9 months..and has done absolutely nothing...no roots or growths (I've tried rooting hormones different fertilizers)..and it hasn't died... It leaves me mystified as to what I am supposed to do with it..

I am growing it in a east window with 2x 52w Ho T5 florescent lights as added light, 50% avg Humidity and at about 20c during the day and down to around 17-18c at night.(grows near my Cattleyas) It has the red pigment in the p-bulbs that my research has led me to believe is due to proper light conditions. I let it dry out a bit between watering just to make sure I don't rot the roots as it does not seem to want to grow new ones.

I am just at my wits end with this thing. Its like its in a permanent dormancy..Any ideas what I should do or what I am doing wrong?

PS..sorry this is long..thought I would give as much info as I could I've always wanted one of these..I would just like it to do something...


You cannot really see the red pigment on the p-bulbs in the picture but the all have a red tinge at least on the upper portion.

[Bud]

it is happy and healthy....the leaves has the correct green coloring it means you are giving it the right light....now the right humidity in summer and the warmth is a factor...this winter you need to give it proper rest and increase light and maybe it will trigger blooms this spring....
the bulbs need to mature if you got it as a seedling=maybe 3 to 4 years old for it to regularly bloom

[nutgirl]

Bud's right, it looks good.
In my experience, these tend to put on new bulbs and roots in spring/summer then just kind of sit there for the rest of the year.
Give it as much light as it will tolerate. They like lots of warmth and water during the growing season.

The reward will be worth the wait!

Maureen

[Aki_James]

Thank you very much for the response.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something in regards to the care and culture for this orchid..never had an orchid not do anything for a year before..everything else I have is starting to put out new growths and spikes right now so I guess I am just being a little impatient.

Glad to know it looks healthy I will just keep doing what I'm doing until it gives me something to worry about.

[quiltergal]

If you have not given it a dry winter rest it will not bloom for you this year. It needs a hard winter rest to set spikes.