Den. Dragon with yellowing and black leaves

[Soccer10083]

Looking for some help with my orchid. It has been having yellowing and splotchy black leaves, and I haven’t been able to find anything about it. I have isolated it and sprayed it with a fungicide (organic) but wasn’t sure if anyone has any other info. A picture of the flowers is included to help in species ID.

[Dusty Ol' Man]

The picture didn't attach.

[estación seca]

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When I go to orchidroots.com and type in Dendrobium Dragon I find there are many, many Dens with "Dragon" in the name but none with only the name "Dragon." Is anything else written on your tag?

What part of the world do you live in? Are you growing it outdoors, in a greenhouse, indoors on a windowsill, indoors under lights?

What is it potted in? How long have you had it?

Tell us your growing conditions: Temperatures day/night, humidity, light, how are you watering and fertilizing?

[Soccer10083]

Gotcha, thanks for the welcome and makes sense why my pictures didn't upload. I am in Colorado, orchid in question is indoors with natural light, potting medium looks to be woodchips mixed with a low density rock (volcanic-like, I didn't plant it myself), and havent had it very long, maybe a few weeks or so. In case the pictures dont upload again, it is a dark red flower with 5 petals each. Temps are ambient (67-70 night, 70-76 F day), light is a northeast window so gets very very early morning direct sun then bright indirect light rest of the day, and I've been watering/fertilizing by preparing the rePOTme MSU fertilizer and pouring it through the soil until it runs out for about 10-15 seconds. Hopefully that helps a bit more.

[estación seca]

I've never seen a leaf that looks like that, so I don't know what is causing it.

The flowers place it in a group called antelope, antennatum or Spathulata Dens. It is probably a hybrid. They prefer to be warm and moist all year, with watering just before they dry out completely. It would probably prefer a little more light than you are giving it, but I don't think that's causing the leaf problem. It would also prefer being a little warmer.

Is there any chance it got considerably colder, like sitting next to a cold window at night? Cold temperatures cause this kind of Den. to drop leaves.

What dilution fertilizer are you using? How often are you watering? How do you decide when to water?

[Soccer10083]

I don’t think it got too cold, I can’t recall anywhere it would’ve been exposed. The bottle of fertilizer I have says 1 tablespoon per gallon of water, and I water every 5 or so days (I’ll wait if it’s obviously still wet). I’m trying to be more consistent because I’ve been bad about watering on a schedule recently

[Dusty Ol' Man]

That is way too much fertilizer. Cut that in half, then in half again. Feed once per week. There are variations of this that work, but in general, orchids require minimal fertilizer.

[Soccer10083]

That’s what the bottle says to do, and it’s an orchid-specific fertilizer though.

[Roberta]

Is the fertilizer a liquid concentrate, or solid? For any solid fertilizer, 1/2 teaspoon per gallon is plenty for nearly all orchids. If liquid concentrate, at MOST use half what it says on the bottle. Orchids grow slowly so they need very little fertilizer. Dendrobiums tend to need less than most other orchids. Fertilizer is the least important cultural factor - get light, temperature, watering, potting medium (good drainage) right, then worry about fertilizer.

[Soccer10083]

It’s liquid, so I’ll just do 1 teaspoon rather than 1 tablespoon