Dendrobium Berry Oda - drooping canes and leaf drop

[Persephone320]

Hello!

I am new to the forum though I've been reading as a guest for some time.

I have been trying my hand with orchids for a few years now, with some sucesses and some failures! My phalenopsis orchids seem to be fine now I've got some expreience with them. However, I bought a reduced Berry Oda from a garden centre around a year ago to try something different. It was just finishing flowering at this point. It's been fine really until I moved house a couple of months ago. The leaves started turning brown and dropping off, leaving brown droopy canes.

I've been trawling the internet for information to try and save it but there doesn't seem to be a lot about the Berry Oda. I am very careful not to overwater as this is usually where I go wrong (in my opinion).
There seems to be some consensus not to remove brown canes, but I'm not sure how they'd be helping the plant. Can anyone help?

I've tried to attach a picture of it for reference!

[silken]

Welcome to Orchid Board.

Is your photo of the plant when you got it or now? It looks fairly healthy. It is actually Den. Berry 'Oda' since the hybrid name is Berry and the cultivar name is 'Oda' it is shown like that. It is 1/2 Den. kingianum, and 1/4 Den. bigibbum and 1/4 Den. canaliculatum. So part cooler growing and part warm to hot growing.

I don't grow a lot of the warm growing ones but have a couple. I also have a kingianum. They all like good drainage and air to the roots. I can't tell for sure from the picture, but can air get at the pot at all in your set up? And what media is it potted in? When a plant starts going downhill fast, the first thing I check is the roots. Spider mites can also cause leaf drop. This plant requires quite high light also. Many Dens. are deciduous on the old leaves and as long as the canes aren't mushy and have some roots, they are likely helping support to the plant.
Hopefully someone else who grows more dens. will jump in with some advice.

[estación seca]

With this ancestry, leaves older than 2-3 years will often drop. However, the pot looks very large for the size of your plant, unless you are very careful with watering. I would be worried the roots are staying wet too long.

When did you last repot it? Dead roots can also cause leaf drop. I would repot the plant now, into fresh medium. Examine the roots. Use a smaller pot, one which would barely leave room for 2 season's new growth.

I would leave all old canes until they are completely dry and brown.

You might consider using a skewer to check dampness in the pot. There is a sticky thread on this in the Beginner forum here. Click on the lft menu, Forums, and then Beginners. You will see the thread.

[Persephone320]

Thanks for the quick responses.

This picture us of the plant currently. It is in a standard orchid mix, but you're right, it possibly does struggle to get air in. It's in a grey plastic pot rather than the normal clear pots.

I haven't repotted it for maybe around 10 months so I will try doing this into a smaller pot and see how it goes.

Would you only remove canes after they are completely brown and dry? I'll check out the skewer thread too!

Again thanks for your help, I'm quite new to this kind of orchid!

[malteseproverb]

I have a den. kingianum-type (definitely some kind of hybrid like yours) and it's normal for the old canes to lose their leaves but as long as they aren't mushy, they are healthy to leave on the plant. The other canes can use its stored nutrients until it's totally dead. I'm not sure about the drooping though. Squeeze it to see if it's mushy. If it is that means it's rotting so take it out. I have one cane on my den that leans far to the side because it was reaching out for sun, but it grew like that from the beginning and didn't suddenly drop down to that position. I agree that it might need more air. Mine grows in large bark and in a terracotta pot so it can dry out quickly. But before that it was in a totally degraded rotting bark mixture and it was completely at ease. They're pretty tough plants.

[estación seca]

Yes, I leave the stems until they are completely dry, brown and dead.

I think this kind of orchid suffers much more from being too wet than too dry. New growths will wilt with insufficient water while developing, and they may not bloom, but it will not kill the plant. Staying wet with insufficient air at the roots will kill it.

Its D. kingianum ancestor often grows on rocks in areas with a lot of summer rain, so it is accustomed to wet roots that dry rapidly. How you mimic this depends on your growing conditions. Many people, like malteseproverb, find very large bark is a good medium. It allows frequent watering without the roots being suffocated. My best-growing kingi is in fine bark in a clay pot, but I have a dry air problem.

[AJW]

Hi, By the look of your photo it appears that your growing medium is too fine. These sorts of orchids like plenty of air around their roots. Your local garden center or Super market should have the proper mix. needs to be small marble size bark (Grade 3) for this type of orchid. Do not use just any old bark as it has to be washed to get the tannin out otherwise you will have the same problem. Good luck. In Australia and New Zealand they grow outside on trees. It would be far to cold for this during the UK winters unfortunately.
To give you some history a M. Oda registered this cross in 1983 (source Orchid Wiz) hence the cultivar name 'Oda'