Need help with dendrobium phalenopsis

[jmccoy]

So back in september I bought a small dendrobium phal from trader joes and it was doing great. In my research I got confused between the phal. and the nobile so when I saw a leaf starting to go yellow I just figured it was because it was going to go dormant and stopped watering it as often. More leaves have kept falling and there is really only one green leaf left. I just figured out yesterday that it is not the nobile and it should not be dropping leaves.

Im going to repot it in bark since its still in the moss it came in and i'm hoping that is why its not doing so hot is because its getting too much moisture. I hope it will recover after this.

Any tips would be great thanks.
I'm still pretty new to growing anything besides just phalenopsis even though iv done a massive amount of research over the last year.

[estación seca]

Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids are forgiving of abuse - that is, they survive. They may not bloom for a while.

Most people grow them with fairly even conditions all year, if possible. And they don't like cold night temperatures.

[campchi]

Den phal are one of the few easiest orchids u can find. Just give it high light, no direct sunlight! high humidity, warm place and it will grow and bloom for you.

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[Fairorchids]

Depending upon your watering schedule, consider keeping it in moss (or rather, a moss/bark mix).

They often come in plastic pots. I grow mine in clay pots, with a 75% spaghnum/25% bark mix. In watering, I try not to let them go bone dry between waterings.

[Leafmite]

They do like plenty of water but also plenty of air to the roots. It depends on your conditions what medium you select. I grow these in either LECA or red lava rock and a basket pot that will allow for a few years of growth. They like Cattleya light.

[jmccoy]

Thank you everyone for all of your comments. I have switched it over to a bark mix since I am pretty consistant on watering all my orchids every week. This guy was getting dry between mixes but I felt it needed better air and pure moss was not doing the trick. So the little guy is in full bark now, I got to see the roots and there had been no growth which makes me sad but the pseudobulbs had not whitered and went green right away which makes me feel I may be right in saying it was getting too much water. Didnt really see any rot, nothing black just dull roots.

My room where all my orchids are unfortunatly doesnt get any warmer then 68 and falls to about 60 overngiht. We have snow outside and the house never gets very warm. I will have to go get a small space heater so that I can raise my temps up cause whatever I do I can't get it to the warmer temps in the daytime like I would like.

I have all my orchids under a T5 4 bulb system so my dendrobium should be getting the air and light he wants since my bulbophylum has red spots indicating that one is getting the light it likes.

Im really glad this one is a trooper cause right now it needs it lol.

[campchi]

If you plant it in bark, you can add half an inch moss ontop to keep the moisture.

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[Leafmite]

The Den should be fine with those temperatures. My home can get a little colder (I had to buy a heating mat for my Phals). If it is growing under the lights, it should put out new growth soon (mine just started a new growth and is putting out keikis).
Good luck and keep us informed!

[jmccoy]

Ok so my baby is in bark now since the weekend and has not shown any sign of loosing the last leaf. I lowered the lights since I think they were too high up for any of my orchids and placed the dendrobium closer to where the fan is going to that it will dry out a bit quicker then where it was before. This way I will be able to allow it to dry out between waterings since I felt that it was too moist before.

Small update though. I am not 100% yet but I was looking at it closely today and I think I am seeing what are little bumps which I hope will turn out to be new leaves on two of the pseudobulbs. I am very excited to see this but it might just be in my head. I have to wait a little longer to see for sure. I also plan on buying a small space heater so that I can raise the temp in my room from high 60's to 70's and hopefully that will help my warmer growers. I can then also control temperature changes better to help get other orchids to rebloom like the phaenopsis.

I will take pictures soon as things develop. Thanks for all the advice guys. Fingers crossed.

[Leafmite]

Do you have a picture of this in bloom? I just reread this and you described it as small. How small? It isn't one of the Latouria Dendrobiums, is it? We don't have a Trader Joe's anywhere within a two hour radius so I am not certain what they sell and the Latouria's requirements are a little different (but definitely no dry rest....).