Why are my orchid's leaves wrinkled and leathery?

[7ariez]

Hi,

I have dendrobium orchid, I over watered it 3 months ago which caused some of the roots to become rotten but the leaves were still healthy but recently the leaves started becoming leathery and wrinkled, does anyone have any advice what need to be done? Thank you so much.

[Roberta]

I suggest unpotting it and taking a look at the roots. The plant sounds like it is not getting enough water, but if the roots are bad, it can't take up water (and so more water just makes the problem worse) At any rate, it probably will be happy with fresh bark... if the roots are bad, fresh bark may well inspire it to produce some new ones. Remember that fresh bark will dry out faster than old, broken down bark, so you'll have to watch it, water when it is barely damp. (The wood skewer method that is described in one of the "sticky" posts is good, or just stick your finger in the pot - if it feels dry 4-5 cm down, time to water, if it feels damp wait another day or two.

[estación seca]

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

You are heading into winter. Rerooting a Dendrobium in late fall/winter can be tricky. Repot as Roberta said, then try to keep it warm and humid. It needs to make more roots so it can take up water.

[7ariez]

thank you for the advice, i just unpotted the orchid and checked the roots, the roots are rotten, but i replaced the potting mix with new dry fresh bark. Hopefully it will trigger it to produce new roots.

[Roberta]

Out of curiosity, do you know what kind of Dendrobium it is? You're still in late summer, so probably have at least two months of reasonably warm weather, so that's in your favor. If it is phalaenopsis-type Dendrobium, it doesn't have a dormant period, and if kept warm it may start rooting right away. If one of those that slows down for the winter (nobile-type or southern Australian temperate-zone Dens) it may not do a lot of rooting until spring (and lose some leaves) but it will also come back vigorously with new spring growth. So after repotting, just be patient.

[7ariez]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Out of curiosity, do you know what kind of Dendrobium it is? You're still in late summer, so probably have at least two months of reasonably warm weather, so that's in your favor. If it is phalaenopsis-type Dendrobium, it doesn't have a dormant period, and if kept warm it may start rooting right away. If one of those that slows down for the winter (nobile-type or southern Australian temperate-zone Dens) it may not do a lot of rooting until spring (and lose some leaves) but it will also come back vigorously with new spring growth. So after repotting, just be patient.

It's Dendrobium phalaenopsis , i keep it near window where it gets lots of filtered sunlight through the curtain.

[Dollythehun]

As long as you didn't overpot you should be fine. These like a tight pot.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

As long as you didn't overpot you should be fine. These like a tight pot.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree. I put mine into very wide, ultra shallow pots and they do very nicely. That photo was taken in Dec, and they are still going great guns.

I think the overpotting claim arises from people putting them into wide, DEEP pots where anaerobic areas are far more prone to build up.

Den phals are possibly the easiest orchids to keep. They will take heat (mine were fine with 46C this summer), and I'm not sure what their low end is. All I know is that I had one that was surplus to requirements, so I put it outside, meaning to compost it but forgot. The area is a little sheltered, but the night time temps have been going down to minus 6 and even one night, minus 8. It's still alive. A bit ragged, but alive.

As long as they don't get direct sun, mine get 50% shade, and seem happy.

In your shoes, I would pot them in fine bark, support them with three rocks, and water frequently. The idea is that they get wet and dry out quickly. I have rescued den phals that were dead roots and dried out canes, and that is the technique I have used.

[Dollythehun]

I like a shallow pot also. We will have to respectfully disagree on size. They are top heavy and a shallow pot gives stability.

They are easy and rewarding. Here they are just coming into the growing season. You should be fine.