Dendrobium orchid suggestions needed. plz help.

[dipunn420]

Hi,

I planted four dendrobium orchid plants and hanged them in the southern facing window of my house. The plants are getting sunlight from around 3.15 pm to 5 pm in the afternoon. Rest of the time, there is sufficient brightness but that is not sunlight. Will my orchids bloom with these conditions??

Please note I am from Odisha, India and when i did buy the orchids they already got their first bloom because I noticed the dry spikes inside them. We generally experience a very hot climate, we are approaching summer, in which day time temp averages from 35c-40c and in night time it is 25-30c during the summer. So I need to re-bloom them. Please help. Any extra suggestions to re-bloom them will be really helpful.

[estación seca]

Hello dipunn420, and welcome to the Orchid Board! I know you will be able to grow Dendrobiums. We look forward to seeing your Dendrobiums in bloom.

When you have posted 5 messages here you will be able to upload photos.

There are so many different Dendrobiums, and different ones require very different culture. Do they have any species or hybrid names on the labels?

Some Dendrobiums like to have water and warmth all year, and others need less water, or lower temperatures, in the winter. When you are able, please post photos of your plants, and people here may be able to tell what kind yours are.

In your summer, the afternoon sun, with those temperatures, may burn many Dendrobiums. Where I live, the summer is 40-45 by day and 30-35 at night. I cannot put any of my orchid plants into the window to get sun in the afternoon. They will burn. I put them back a little where they still have bright light but not much sun.

Another thing you could do is put a very thin sheer curtain in the window so the sun shines through the curtain before it shines on your plants. This allows much of the light through but blocks some of it.

Are your plants in containers? What kind of potting medium is in the containers? Or, are they mounted on pieces of wood?

During the warm season Dendrobiums need plenty of water, but they cannot stay very wet for very long. They grow on trees in the wild and their roots receive a lot of air. Plants in pots should almost become completely dry before you water again. Plants mounted on pieces of wood can be watered almost every day.

[wintergirl]

Originally Posted by dipunn420

Please note I am from Odisha, India

Welcome to OrchidBoard You say you are from India but your flag says Iceland

[Suri85]

Try dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids or spatulata species or hybrids like antennatum, stratiotes etc. They works for me (I live in Jakarta), they love heat and the sun but they also love humidity. I water them twice daily during dry season

[dipunn420]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Hello dipunn420, and welcome to the Orchid Board! I know you will be able to grow Dendrobiums. We look forward to seeing your Dendrobiums in bloom.

When you have posted 5 messages here you will be able to upload photos.

There are so many different Dendrobiums, and different ones require very different culture. Do they have any species or hybrid names on the labels?

Some Dendrobiums like to have water and warmth all year, and others need less water, or lower temperatures, in the winter. When you are able, please post photos of your plants, and people here may be able to tell what kind yours are.

In your summer, the afternoon sun, with those temperatures, may burn many Dendrobiums. Where I live, the summer is 40-45 by day and 30-35 at night. I cannot put any of my orchid plants into the window to get sun in the afternoon. They will burn. I put them back a little where they still have bright light but not much sun.

Another thing you could do is put a very thin sheer curtain in the window so the sun shines through the curtain before it shines on your plants. This allows much of the light through but blocks some of it.

Are your plants in containers? What kind of potting medium is in the containers? Or, are they mounted on pieces of wood?

During the warm season Dendrobiums need plenty of water, but they cannot stay very wet for very long. They grow on trees in the wild and their roots receive a lot of air. Plants in pots should almost become completely dry before you water again. Plants mounted on pieces of wood can be watered almost every day.

Hi mate,

Thanks for your reply.

I reside in a smaller city and there are only 2 nurseries in the town those sell orchids. I did not find any label in the plants when I purchased those. But when I asked the nursery owner about the species of the orchid, he told me that all the orchids are Dendrobium type and he also suggested me to make a mixture of coconut husks, charcoal and dry tree bark and to use it as the media for the plants. I made the same mixture and hanged the plants with the containers. I am not over watering them, rather I am spraying water twice a day on the leaves and roots. Is it ok for now??

As far as light is concerned, currently the amount of light the plants are getting are so mild that I am very sure that it can't harm the plant in anyways. I was concerned about the time span for which the plant is getting light. Only 2 hours of mild light !! Is it possible it can bloom with that much of light??

Definitely, I will post the photos of the orchids when I am allowed to do so. I am also noticing a new spike like structure on one of the plant and I am observing it is slowly moving in the direction from which sunlight is coming.

Thanks and please give some tips, if you can. Looking forward to hear back.

---------- Post added at 10:21 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:19 AM ----------

Originally Posted by Suri85

Try dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids or spatulata species or hybrids like antennatum, stratiotes etc. They works for me (I live in Jakarta), they love heat and the sun but they also love humidity. I water them twice daily during dry season

Mate, only dendrobium kind of species are available in my town. So I have to go by that. Will post the photos soon, so that you people can identify with what I am dealing with.

---------- Post added at 10:23 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:21 AM ----------

Originally Posted by wintergirl

Welcome to OrchidBoard You say you are from India but your flag says Iceland

Ohh,,,was in a hurry last night. Now it is changed to our tri color.

[estación seca]

Your potting mix sounds fine. Most Dendrobiums do well if the potting medium is completely soaked, and then allowed to dry before the next watering. Depending on the pot size, temperature and humidity, this may be several days to a week or more. This is less work than spraying every day or so, and encourages the roots to fill the pot.

For this reason many people use small pots just able to hold the roots. Taller Dendrobiums are top-heavy this way. This permits more frequent watering and drying out. A person on this forum called bil from Spain uses very wide but shallow pots for his Dendrobiums, so they both dry out fast and are less likely to tip over.

It can be difficult to tell when the medium at the center of the pot is dry, so some people use a wooden cooking skewer to check. Others note the weight of the dry pot and plant in their hand, and the weight of the newly-watered plant. You can read about using skewers here:

Using skewers to determine when to water

Your light might be enough for some Dendrobiums, but not enough for others. We will soon see your photos and we will have a better idea. Bright shade close to the equator can be brighter than full sun at northern latitudes, and many suggestions as to sun requirement for orchids are written by people who live farther from the equator, or in cooler areas, than you or I. If the leaves become yellowish, it is too much light, and you should move them back from the window. If they become deep green, it is probably not enough.

Suri85 was referring to Dendrobium hybrids that include the Australian and Papua New Guinean species Dendrobium phalaenopsis and Dendrobium bigibbum in their ancestry. These plants are not related to the genus Phalaenopsis; they got their name because the flowers of the species and most of their hybrids do resemble the flowers of the Phalaenopsis genus. They are commonly called Den phals or Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids. These are very common Dendrobium hybrids in horticulture because they are easy to grow and bloom when provided year-round warmth. I have attached a photo of one such Den phal hybrid, D. Burana Stripe. Many southeast Asian growers are active in hybridizing this kind of orchid. I think you may have this kind of hybrid because they are widely distributed, beautiful and make good house plants.

Suri85 also mentioned hybrids descended from the southeast Asian island archipelago species D. antennatum and D. stratiotes. They do well in tropical climates. These kinds of species have also been crossed with Den phal hybrids to produce flower in colors from white through yellow, green, pink and purple, many with stripes and spots.

[dipunn420]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. Trying to post the images.

[dipunn420]

Hi,

Look out for the photos. Can you please identify the name and kind of dendrobium. The media is used is shown too.

Also, you can see how much mild light they are getting, interestingly there is a spike like structure growing from the 1st orchid, will it go on to produce flower?? I am really excited as it is constantly moving in the direction of light. please advice.

[estación seca]

Your plants are probably Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids. Your light levels are probably OK for blooming. That is a flower spike. The pots are larger than I would use for plants that size unless the root systems are large enough to fill those pots now. If you take care to let the pots dry before watering, the pots will be fine, especially if your humidity during the hot season is not too high.

[dipunn420]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Your plants are probably Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids. Your light levels are probably OK for blooming. That is a flower spike. The pots are larger than I would use for plants that size unless the root systems are large enough to fill those pots now. If you take care to let the pots dry before watering, the pots will be fine, especially if your humidity during the hot season is not too high.

Hi,

Thank you again for writing.

If it is flower spike, then how many days it requires to produce flowers?? Secondly, when I purchased the plants, the nursery owner gave me NPK fertilizer of 19:19:19 and told me to spray it on plants at the interval of 15 days. Should I use it and is it Ok if I spray the fertilizer on plants leaves and roots or Should I just water the fertilizer into the container?

Kindly suggest.