Dendrobium life - history
The question often comes up, "when do I cut an old cane?" I have tried to identify the age of the various bare canes.
Here is Dendrobium bensoniae. It is still dormant (and it is one of the few that I actually do dry out since it is completely deciduous) For this species, a cane will bloom just once, but persist for long after. I will see buds start to emerge on the 1-year canes, probably within the month though it may run late since it has been a very cool spring. About that time, I will also see the beginning of new growth. The 2 year canes still show the old stems of last year's flowers. the 3 year canes are still firm but have mostly lost those old stems, the 4 year canes are starting to be soft but are still plump. I noted the old canes that really are ready to trim, you can see that they look quite different, just thin shells. All the rest are very much alive.
Some Dendrobium species do rebloom on old canes for 2-3 years. This one, each cane blooms once, after it has lost all of its leaves. Just for comparison, I also show the plant in full bloom last year.
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