den questions

[scy]

Hi,

I have a den victoria-reginae and a den miyakei. They are potted in plastic pots with side slits and in a medium bark mix with lava rocks and charcoal in an eastern facing window with low humidity. I water once a week by soaking them in water or weakly diluted fertilizer for 15 minutes.

The seller recommended I reduce watering in the winter by running the water straight through the pot instead of soaking it. I was not sure when to start reducing water so I started in October. The leaves slowly started to yellow and drop for the miyakei. I have only lost 2 leaves so far but it is not in poor health, since the other leaves are still vibrant green and there are plenty of healthy roots.

I found mold in the medium of the den victoria reginae, so I decided to unpot it and found a decent amount of dead roots. I trimmed it up, wrapped the remainder of the roots in a kln moistened paper towel in a ziplock while I soaked new bark mix for repotting. I put it in a smaller pot and noticed there was a small growth at the top of the cane a week later. It turned out to be a bud.

For the victoria-reginae, should I continue to water by running water through the pot or can I go back to soaking it in water? Is there anything else I can to get more buds?

For the miyakei, is there anything else I should be doing to get it to flower?

Thanks for your help!

- Susan

[WhiteRabbit]

[WhiteRabbit]

I generally don't soak (exception are Phals and Paphs, especially in winter, to avoid getting water in crowns during cool, damp weather). Since victoria-reginae should not dry completely, I don't know that soaking would make a difference over running water through... ?

Miyakei, from IOSPE http://www.orchidspecies.com/dendmiyakei.htm
Slight lessening of water, and cessation of fertilizer in winter months until new growth in spring

[scy]

Thanks for bumping my post and giving me your input. I never soak it where the whole thing is submerged in water. I usually just put it in a bowl and fill it on the sides with lukewarm water until it gets about 1/4" from the top of the pot or it starts to tip over.

Sonya, what do you do to get yours to flower? How often do you water? How do you water?

I will monitor the victoria-reginae and see if the new medium is moldy. If it is, then I will have to hold back water longer since it's getting too much water (hence the mold?) Perhaps I should just mist the top layer every few days? I do have a skewer in there to help me determine if it's moist. Usually when I water again a week later, it's bone dry but I do see some green mold spores. I hope the new medium will solve that problem.

[WhiteRabbit]

I grow mine outdoors year-round, so my watering may be quite a bit different. It's potted in pumice and perlite, so during summer (days are very warm to hot, quite dry), in this media, it gets watered well everyday (I do want to change to different media in the future, so I can perhaps water a bit less often in summer!)

In winter, it's much cooler (even cold at night) and usually much moister. It's not in the rain, but rainy weather = even moister air! I water usually about once a week - can be less during very rainy periods.

Bud grows a victoria-reginae indoors - I found his post, he has included how he grows his (his also blooms better than mine!)
Dendrobium victoria-reginae (in bloom) - that may help you out some!

[IcePenguin]

I have a vic-reg and it's mounted. I keep mine moist year round. I don't let it dry out at ll unless i get lazy. I keep it inside year round also as it likes cooler temps. For most of the year I have it hanging just above my patio doors which face west, so it gets decent light. Right now with winter approaching, I have moved it to an area with lights. It bloomed for me this summer and right now has two new growths starting.

[scy]

I guess I did something right since I was rewarded with blooms! I wasn't sure if it was changing the medium and throwing it in a ziplock for a few days that made it throw out buds or if it was due for it to happen anyway, but I'm just happy to finally get a flower! YAY! It's a bit more dark purple/bluish tint in person.

Day 1:




Day 2:



Susan