Dendrobium can survive a massive abuse

[Elina]

Yesterday I learned just how sturdy Dendrobiums can be

A friend of mine gave me a supposedly white Dendrobium from the school she teaches at. It was kept on the windowsill at one of those large windows in a classroom. Then summer came and pupils and teachers went for a vacation. After two months she returned and found completely dried Dendrobium. She cut away all dried out canes, watered it and gave it a last chance. Soon afterwards it actually started to grow and made a nice little cane. So she went back to the old "system" - watering once a week. Next summer is getting closer and she is sure that it won't survive another summer of getting deep fried. So she gave it to me - "If it lives, then it lives. If not... well, it would have died during the summer anyway."


So for over than a year this Dendrobium went through:
- watering once a week and letting the pot sit in the remaining water
- dry air, heater from below and no shade from direct sun
- no plant food
- 2 months of direct summer sun, no water
- sphagnum in the middle
- probably it was has "tasted" some soda (cola?) as well as top of of the pot, bark and roots were black and sticky

And actually it is still living (or trying to)!

I repotted it on the same day, as it didn't look too good. And for the first time I used glows as I had no clue what that black and sticky stuff was. Half of the roots fell off with the pieces of bark as soon as I got it out of the pot. In the picture you can see the remaining roots before washing/cleaning. Some more fell off during the cleaning process. Surprisingly I found multiple really good looking and growing roots coming from the cane with leaves. I kept the weird looking cane with keikis untouched and removed only the worse looking roots, so it would have something to hold it in the pot.

I am beginner at growing orchids so let see how it does under my care

What I learned - Dendrobiums can take a massive abuse and can still survive!