Silvered leaf damage on 'spring apollon'

[Rosehip]

The leaves on my dendrobium are silvered from spider mite damage. There are no new bulbs emerging and nearly all leaves have dropped--does this spell certain death for my plant? I don't see the mites anymore. TIA.

[aliceinwl]

What kind of Dendrobium is it? Did you treat the mites? If the cane is still alive and the roots are good, I think recovery is possible. If the mites weren’t treated though, they’ll likely be back. I had good luck using an insecticidal soap, but it took me about 6 weeks to get rid of them.

[rbarata]

You can't erradicate mites. The onlything you can do is control their population by keeping their numbers low. Probably all your other plants are infested too.

[SaraJean]

Is it a goner? Not at all. I’ll usually give dendrobiums a full 6months to a year AFTER I think they should be trashed to see if they will recover. Usually, they do. I have had a pot full of leafless sticks before, either from insect damage or underwatering, that bounced back. I took care of whatever the issue was and, eventually, they started growing. It’s spring, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you see some new growth soon. One caveat is that it needs to have a good root system. Just keep giving it good care- warm, bright, appropriate amounts of water (can’t tell from the pics if this is a Den Phal type, nobile hybrid, or something else),keep wiping or spraying for mites and it should be good.

Edit: I didn’t see that you posted the name. It’s a nobile type hybrid, those drop their leaves anyways and do most of their growing in the spring. You should be fine. It just isn’t time for it to wake up yet

[Rosehip]

Thanks everyone for the replies. I know that the plant variety is named 'Spring Apollon', but that's all it had on the label. SaraJean suggested it is a nobile type and I think that's accurate because even before the mite attack it regularly lost leaves. Besides rinsing it a lot I haven't treated it but I did just repot it 2 weeks ago with all fresh bark. The good news is I see a new growth, I guess it's a new bulb, so I am no longer worried. When I repotted it I noticed how healthy the roots were and there were many! Fortunately my other 2 plants have not suffered from mites at all, so hopefully their population has been brought down. I have Safer's insecticidal soap at the ready in case I notice them again.

[Jeff214]

I have this plant and the mites do seem to like it. I'd definitely treat the mites in some way before it gets out of control. I used insecticidal soap a few times and it has mostly gone away.

I agree with SaraJean - nobile types are quite resilient. Mine fell off a windowsill and broke into a dozen pieces. I put psuedobulb fragments (no roots) in a cup of water and they all started to form keikis. One of those fragments flowered this year!

Hope your plant recovers.

[Rosehip]

Thanks Jeff 214! That's amazing that you got keikis from the pseudobulb remains of that accident. Cheers!

[Rosehip]

So happy...not only has my plant put up new shoots but it has BUDS!!!

[Paphluvr]

It is definitly a nobile dendrobium. I've had this hybrid before. It has white flowers with a greenish yellow throat and is nicely fragrant. All the older canes look quite healthy and generally the ones from the previous season will produce the flowers. With proper care this thing can get loaded with flowers.

[Jeff214]

Congrats - I'm glad your plant's recovered so well!