What to do with these guys....

[coli0157]

I won two dendrobiums at our orchid society raffel this week. The only problem is that I always kill these plants so I just dont even try anymore. I have no idea what I am doing wrong but leaves always yellow and just fall off. I got Dendrobium delicatum and Den Red emperor 'Prince'. They are obviusly two very different types, they look very different. I have done some reading online but I turn to the experts here for some extra help. I love the look of Dendrobiums and really hope that I can turn a new leaf with these guys. Thanks for any suggestions.
Jeremy

[puddin]

Some dens. are alive even though they look dead. I have a friend whose den. is like that. It suddenly started shooting up growths everywhere! I can't wait for it to start spiking!

[jeem132]

what is the species?

[silken]

OrchidWiz had Den. delicatum, but no cultural info which is too bad.

As for Den. Red Emporor, It has nearly half Den. nobile in its breeding and then a mix of other types. It looks like you would treat it like a nobile type. Quite bright light and a good amount of watering and feed in spring and summer. Then cut of feeding and reduce watering considerably for the cooler winter months. Just keeping the pseudobulbs from shriveling by a bit of misting or a slight bit of water every few weeks. This is what hardens the canes and gets it to bloom in spring. If you over water they produce keikis instead of blooms. The nobile type are deciduous as well. Once mature, they will likely drop their leaves over winter.

Good luck. Hopefully someone else grows the delicatum.

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[jeem132]

i have a dendro aggregatum and it's not deciduous. it's a verry beautiful great plant. i love them. i like to grow these plant on treefern stat up like a raft if it's like aggregatum and the blooms hang over the side and if it's like kingianum i'd put it in a basket with maybe 10-12 leca pebles ontop of the roots

[WhiteRabbit]

Den x delicatum is a naturally occurring hybrid between D. kingianum and D. tarberi. I believe culture should be the same for as kingianum. However, I don't grow x delicatum; I hope someone will correct me if I am wrong.

IOSPE PHOTOS

How I grow kingianum - moderately bright to bright light, do not allow media to dry - water well during growing season. Cool temps fall- winter, water and fert reduced slightly - media still not allowed to dry completely, but allowed to become nearly dry. Can take temps down to freezing for short periods.

gl!

[jeem132]

sounds good to me white rabit. idk why you have alot of problem. i usualy water ever few weeks in the winter and no fertilizer for 3 months

[NYCorchidman]

Yellowing of leaves during the warmer season is mostly likely the watering problem. Since both can take lots of water ( I give mine lots of water everyday during growth period), I would think yellowing is due to underwatering.
If the yellowing occurs after summer is over, then it could be normal for the nobile types, but not quite normal for kingianums.

Both are considered as "hard to kill" plants. so I think you want to pay close attention to watering them properly.