Dendrobium unicum needs advice

[mimigirl]

My poor baby! Its about half the size it was three months ago. It was losing leaves after it bloomed, which i figured was normal. But it also lost pieces of stem. In this pic it is planted in plastic pot with spaghnum. I took it out today and put in ochiata and a clay pot. Hope this works.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I had a D. unicum that did not do so well for me (tiny snails kept finding any new growth & eating them off until the plant finally gave up).

The picture is a bit out of focus, but the plant looks reasonably healthy. Often the leaves drop before you get flower spikes developing, this is normal for a nobile-type Dendrobium. I think orchiata in a small clay pot is a good choice (pot the same size as the plastic one shown). I hear they also do well mounted.

For this species, find a culture sheet for nobile-type Dendrobiums and follow that advice; they do require a rest period consistent with other nobile Dendrobiums.

A recommendation I read once for D. unicum was that if it looks dead, it probably isn't. Meaning, a bare, twiggy appearance is not uncommon as canes mature, drop leaves, bloom and get ready for the next flush of growth.