Dendrobium blooming..not many leaves left.

[Tetra73]

I have a newbie question about my dendrobium frosty dawn, a hybrid, not the pure nobile type. It is currently blooming very nicely and the main cane has about 15 flowers when it finishes blooming. When I got it about 6 months ago, it didn't have a lot of leaves. It was still growing new leaves on the newer cane. However, it was losing leaves too from bacteria rots. Eventually, all of the older leaves were gone, except the newer ones. I haven't lost them yet while the flowers are in bloom right now. BTW, this dendrobium I got it has never bloomed before because all of the older canes are very short and small, less than 10" tall. The newer cane is about 2ft tall though. Only the top 6" has those eyes spacing and there's where the blooms are coming from. The rest of the lower portion is completely covered in its brown sheath.

Is it going to be a point that even most of the new leaves would drop by the time it finishes blooming??? Also, when should I expect another new cane to grow soon?

[bil]

Pics would be a real help.

[Tetra73]

Originally Posted by bil

Pics would be a real help.

This shot was taken about a month ago. Most of the flower spikes you see there are already matured and blooming right now. D_frostydawn_bloom_0028_1 by vracing, on Flickr


This was taken last year around Oct. Most of the older leaves on the older canes were gone. There is only 1 leaf left (top) on each of the older canes.

mygrowtent_0011 by vracing, on Flickr

[Roberta]

This isn't a Den nobile hybrid at all, It's parents are Den cruentum, Den. formosum, and Den. scabrilingue. It likes a bit of drying in the winter, but not nearly as rigorous as for nobile types. I suspect that losing some leaves on the old cane is natural. Looks to me like a rather happy plant.

[gngrhill]

It is not unusual for a nobile type to lose leaves on the older PBs. My older stalks are pretty much leafless, but the new growths from this past summer have nice shiny leaves. These are the ones that will bloom next winter and they will lose most of their leaves at that time making way for shiny new growths.

[bethmarie]

It is normal for scabrilingue and cruentum to eventually lose leaves on older psuedobulbs. Your plant looks happy and healthy in the pictures.

Did you make the pots your plants are in? And how, if you did?

[Tetra73]

Originally Posted by bethmarie

It is normal for scabrilingue and cruentum to eventually lose leaves on older psuedobulbs. Your plant looks happy and healthy in the pictures.

Did you make the pots your plants are in? And how, if you did?

Thanks...I didn't think these are the nobile type...though their soft leaves do indicate as such. I am just concerning that most photos I saw about dendrobium seem to have many leaves from top to the bottom.

Yeah, I made these plastic baskets myself. Just your normal plastic Tupperware from your dollar stores. I used a solder gun to melt the slots.

[estación seca]

This group of Dendrobiums (Formosae) doesn't like as cool winters as nobile does. And as Roberta mentioned, they don't like prolonged drying, either.