Why is my dendrobium doing this??

[Ethan]

Wow, Junebug! That little orchid has been through a lot! LOL I guess she was trying to tell you she was happy in her original home, huh?? I love dends. but I don't like how top heavy they get. I even use clay pots and I still have trouble...I've found it helps sometimes to set them inside a larger pot for some extra stability.

Your dend looks like she's going to be beautiful! I can't wait to see the flowers open...make sure you post more pics! Is she a blue?

[tulasi132]

Im no expert but it seems to be the kind of thing that can only be explained genetically. Ive noticed on some shrubs, at my friends house, that jst the leaves on one branch are variegated (striped) while the rest of the plant is not, it seems plants are able to mutate or express certain variance on part of their structure but not on others. If the plant was ot injured then this would be my explanation, a localized mutation. One could clone that cane only and see if the mutation continues to present itself.

[Ethan]

I've been meaning to update this thread -

I was checking this dend. the other day as it has grown a little more and the newer growth appears to be normal. I was pulling back some of the lower leaves and I found the culprit:

THRIPS

I don't know if any of you have ever had to deal with thrips, if not, I hope you never have to, if you have, you can feel my pain. I've been fighting them for almost a year now. I thought they were almost gone as I've been using a product that I got from a local nursery owner that is only available for industrial use as far as I know. Needless to say, I hadn't completely eliminated them. I can't tell you how many times I specifically looked for the darned things to see if they were causing this and I couldn't see any. They are VERY good at hiding and you can clearly see the damage they can do.

[quiltergal]

Ewww! Crawlies! Bummer Ethan!