Dendrobium nobile rest period

[rbarata]

Does fertilising them in the rest period cause them to produce more keikis?

My nobile never gave me a keiki...I would like to mount one but never got the "raw material".

[Iray]

I have a starclass (I think) that grew two canes, and a comet king akatsuki that grew one short cane and like 5 keikis! I removed the 3 biggest ones and planted them in a separate pot, and left the others attached since the roots already made their way in the media...
I really hope I'm gonna get some blooms out of them...!

[orchidsamore]

Excess nitrogen produces more keiki with less flowers. So less fertilizer in winter is OK.

We use 6 month water release slow release fertilizer in all our pots. So we fertilize plants as we get them (Oct to March) once and then forget them for the next year.

[Iray]

Hello there,a quick update...
I've been watering it every 8 days or so because I saw it started losing some leaves... The weather has been very rainy and coldish 13c min.
I checked up on them today and I see many leaves have little holes in them! What is it?? I couldn't see insects on them and rubbed the leaves with isopropyl alcohol and couldn't see anything other than regular dust.
Is it the cold that is 'burning' the leaves or pest? The weather is nowhere near freezing so I'm confused.. I attached some pictures for you to see. Thanks for any suggestions u may give!!

[Iray]

[Fairorchids]

We (DCOS & NJOS) have just had Ron McHatton as a speaker on Dendrobiums. For nobile types:

a. Stop fertilizing mid September through end of March.
b. Cut back on water from mid Oct till buds are well formed (about ready to open). During this period:
b.1 Place plants in a cool & bright location.
b.2 Water abt 1/3 to 1/2 of what you do during growing season (= less frequently, not small doses).

Trick: nobile types can grow very tall, up to 24-36" (60-90 cm). If you do not want them that tall, pluck out the center leaf on the new growth (any time after 18" = 45 cm). That limits the height of the bulb, but does not affect the later blooming.

If your plant sets keikis instead of buds, you are fertilizing it too late and giving it too much water.

[silken]

Originally Posted by Iray

Hello there,a quick update...
I've been watering it every 8 days or so because I saw it started losing some leaves... The weather has been very rainy and coldish 13c min.
I checked up on them today and I see many leaves have little holes in them! What is it?? I couldn't see insects on them and rubbed the leaves with isopropyl alcohol and couldn't see anything other than regular dust.
Is it the cold that is 'burning' the leaves or pest? The weather is nowhere near freezing so I'm confused.. I attached some pictures for you to see. Thanks for any suggestions u may give!!

These are deciduous on older canes, so some will leaves will get yellow and fall off. Mine get spotted before they fall off. Not sure if everyone's does that. Your leaves in the pics look like newer ones on younger canes. I am not sure what is causing the spots. Maybe such cool and wet weather.

Maybe someone else will have some thoughts on it.

[Iray]

Yea they are new leaves..I out some mesh on them I'll keep them monitored!!

[Iray]

Hi just an update...the offenders were tiny caterpillars
But on the bright side some bumps appeared on the cane so there's a good chance they are flower buds!
Atm the lowest temperature in the night is 5 Celsius and I've been watering it around every 8-10 days ( doesn't have much bark in the pot)
I'll keep u posted

[Iray]