New dendrobium chid on the block

[kindrag23]

Hello,

I will say this now I am relatively new to orchids and after some input from several members in another forum decided to buy a dendrobium. I ordered a BIN-DEN. TO MY KIDS *SMILE* NOBILE type. It is near blooming size it states.

I know that they have to have a winter rest which works great with where I live because It gets rather chilly around here 19* at night during the middle of winter.
My biggest question I guess would be what type of potting mixture do they require? As well as what type of fertilizer is best for them.

[WhiteRabbit]

I'd probably not let it get below freezing, and only as low as that for short periods and sheltered. During winter rest, bright light, very little water, no fertilizer.

While growing, media should remain slightly moist, so media should retain some moisture, but drain well - fine bark mix; chc; sphag -or be prepared to water frequently in less moisture retentive media. You can fertilize as with most orchids (weakly weekly, plus monthly flush) while growing.

[kindrag23]

Okay Awesome, I was planning on putting it in a spare bedroom that while it gets some heat it still stays relatively cool during the winter months.

What does a monthly flush mean exactly?

And by weakly weekly, I usually set all of mine in a tub and soak them for a good amount of time somewhere around 20 min or a little longer if i get busy doing other things.

So lets say around 5 gallons of water in the tub I put them in. How much fertilizer would I need to put in there. My better gro orchid food and bloom booster (two different bags) say 1 tablespoon per gallon of water. So say every week 1 tablespoon in their water while they soak or is that not enough....

Sorry about all of the rapid fire questions. I just don't want to kill them...

[WhiteRabbit]

Once a month, the potting media should be flushed out, to prevent accumulation of minerals from fertilizer and hard water . You can run a lot of plain water thru, or soak in plain water for several minutes and then run some plain water thru.

For the better gro orchid plus, I use ½ tsp per gallon, once a week. I don't use bloom booster.

[kindrag23]

Okay great thank u!