Dendrobium canes turning yellow

[Becca]

Hi Everyone! Happy weekend! Just wanted to get some opinions from everyone one here....I acquired a Dendrobium Woo Leng at my local orchid society meeting in January of this year. I know some dendrobiums like to to pout, kick and cry and then try to die just to scare the crap out of you but this one seemed ok after about a month. But then the big move came in February to my new home....they got boxed up (I left the lids open) and they stayed that way for about 3 or 4 weeks in the living room of the new house unfortunately. All the 'chids did well....no problem with cold damage on anything since it was a fairly warm day for moving and they didn't sit anywhere cold. Anyways...this dendrobium decided to start acting up after we moved....first it was the tip of a couple of canes and the base started yellowing...but nothing was near the rhizome so I was just keeping an eye on it. Now the yellowing is starting to go to the very base of two canes and I'm wondering if I should cut them off? They are the two older canes out of about 5 or so canes...one newer cane has an active eye so I know new growth is coming. But I'm afraid the yellowing will spread through the entire plant. The two canes are still green in the center and everything is still firm. What would you do?

[dounoharm]

i would cut the canes to the good hard flesh, and treat with physan 20.....gl!

[Becca]

Sad to report the prognosis is not good. I went to cut the two back canes that were yellowing and I was wrong, these two canes are the newest growth. I went to cut a few other canes that were the original growths and had shriveled and turned yellow as well. So yellow canes on both ends...except for one in the middle that has the active eye. So I cut away the yellow canes and it is the last one standing. I haven't taken this out of the pot yet...just did the snipping while it was in the pot and realized how bad it is so I don't know what kind of root system this one cane will have. Guess if it doesn't make it, it'll be a learning experience! I should have gotten to this problem a lot sooner but I had been so busy settling into the new place!

[chickazilla]

Hi,
I recently bought a dendrobium online which came with two older yellow canes and leaves, somewhat shriveled, and one newer cane which was very plump, pale light green, almost about to yellow but not quite. (and no the seller did not give me a refund so I decided to try to resuscitate it)

I don't want to cut the older canes off just yet and I read in some articles on the internet that it might be a nutrient deficiency so I've given it fertilizer 2x in 4 weeks now. I don't know if this is correct but I'm willing to give this a try before going extreme.

I also found this video by Brad from Brad's Greenhouse where he discusses the experiment he did with 2 of the same dendrobiums, and he seemed to think the slight yellowing on one of them was healthy and yielded a lot more flower buds.

[estación seca]

We would really need a lot more details of your care. There are many different kinds of Dendrobiums, and they require different kinds of care.

All of them will lose newer growth quickly if you don't water them enough during their growing season. Growths just forming will often die within a week of not getting water. I suspect this is what happened to yours. How often are you watering?

Dendrobium Woo Leng looks from photos like it has Den. phalaenopsis and Den. spathulata ancestry. It would want regular warmth, water and bright light throughout the growing period.

Can you post photos of your whole plant, a closeup of the base of the plant and the canes themselves?

[chickazilla]

Hi there,

Here are some pics of my dendrobium samurai. The initial pic has the tag in front. I took right when I got it, about 4 weeks ago. 2nd pic is 4 weeks later. I know you can't tell from these pictures that there is a difference in the color of the leaves, but the leaves are visibly greener than when I first received them. The 3rd pic is the base, as you requested. Any thoughts?

[estación seca]

The Den. Samurai was in poor shape when it arrived.

It looks as though it was kept in too much light with too little water. These prefer even moisture and warmth. They won't take full sun. They do like bright light.

H&R Nurseries in Hilo, Hawaii usually has this on their offering list. They send very large, healthy plants.

[Tetra73]

Hmmm....yellowing and shriveling on older canes is normal IF you have active growing canes. My dendrobium frosty dawn is almost done flowering with the newest active cane...is usually the tallest and robust cane. Now, two new canes are actively growing by the root system and with new leaves.....while one of the smaller and older cane is turning yellow and shriveling.

---------- Post added at 07:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:19 PM ----------

About the Brad's video...he was referring to the high light intensity and orchids, in his case dendrobium, would slightly turn yellowish or lime green by the leaves and the cane. However, the cane would remain fat and thick. And orchids with light deficiency would be more greenish....and won't flower...