Sick dendrobium?

[fudJy23]

I got this dendrobium hybrid (that's the tag says) from the Seattle Orchids sale a couple of weeks ago. It looked great when I opened the box but in the last couple of days, I noticed a couple of leaves were turning yellow and not firm like it's not getting enough water. While I'm normally hesitant about repotting when there is a spike with buds, I pulled him out of the pot today and repotted him so I can get a feel for how the roots are doing.

The roots look fine.

There's one pseudobulb that's split. I didn't look closely enough when I unpacked him to know if that's how he came out of the box or if this just happened.

Thoughts?

[bil]

Nice colour, I have recently bought one like it. I have a golden rule. Unless there is an excellent reason why not, (and it had better be good) I repot the day I buy. I'm not an expert, but I don't like how most of those roots look.

As always, the caveat is, what works for me might not for you.

I like them put into very wide shallow easy draining dishes that I make myself, as I can't buy them. I melt a couple of holes in the bottom and wire the orchid firmly in place. Sometimes it needs two ties. (I use the thin soft rubber coated wire.) I then put a layer of coarse bark over the bottom and cover with fine bark. If it's a rescue, and the roots are gone (ie worse than yours, I put a twist of sphagnum at the base, BUT NOT MUCH, and if the plant still wobbles a bit I put a small rock on the surface.

The shallowness of the medium means I can water frequently without the media turning into a sodden mass that suffocates the roots.

Hopefully someone will be able to advise if the split is dangerous or just ugly, and what is the best thing to do. It's very easy to be wise after the event, and most of us have been so carried away with the flowers that we fail to see quite blatant health problems.

You need to have a checklist in your head and check off all the details before buying.
State of potting medium,
Roots,
Stems,
Leaves,
Disease or fungal marks
and all the time try and stop looking at the flower!

[Zabeta]

The same thing happened to me - I purchased a plant from the Seattle Orchids dendrobium sale, and left it for a few days before repotting (less than a week). By the time I got around to repotting, two leaves were yellowing and floppy, and one of the canes was wrinkled.

I realized what the problem was as soon as I took it out of the pot. First off, the potting medium was extremely dusty. It looked like it hadn't been watered for a long time (which was my mistake - I assume all of my online and store orchid purchases are going to be packed with some sort of overly moisture-retaining substance like sphagnum, which was not the case this time). The roots were definitely suffering.

In my case, there were a ton of functional aerial roots, so I soaked it for a while and then repotted it tightly into bark, with some of the aerial roots inside the pot and some remaining in the air. It'll definitely lose the two yellowing leaves, but I think I caught it in time for that to be the extent of the damage.

I really liked how Seattle Orchids packaged their plant, and mine had a HUGE flower spike that they managed to preserve through shipping. It was impressive. But I'm not sure why the medium was so full of dust.

Had you watered before you repotted? What medium did you use to repot?

[fudJy23]

I watered it the day after I unpacked it. I figured it could use water since it had been in transit for a few days.

When I repotted, I put a layer of sphag at the bottom. The drainage holes were bigger than the bark that I was using. Then, I packed the rest in with bark. That was this morning. I'm going to be keeping an eye on it for the next couple of days.

I agree, I was amazed with how they packed the box. The flowers remained intact!

[fudJy23]

Quick update on this plant. I have one more yellow leaf that I'm waiting for it to fall off and the rest of the leaves seem to be holding at a healthy looking green. Fingers crossed!