Dendrobium Unicum - No Clue, Dormancy

[Dalton]

Hey everyone. I have a question about an orchid I purchased back at the beginning of April. I bought a Dendrobium Unicum from a hobbyist and I believe he knows what he's talking about as he has two huge greenhouses full of healthy and flowering plants.

The Dendrobium Unicum I bought from him was in dormancy. He basically said not to do anything to it until it started putting out leaves. The media, which I think is moss, was hard. I'd asked him about watering it. He said I could, but not to go overboard until it started growing leaves.

I've now had it for 2 months and have seen no changes. I don't water if often, and when I do I just drop it in a sink full of warm water with a couple of other plants and let it soak for a while. When I do, the roots that are exposed and much of the stalks will turn green for a while.

I have no experience with dendrobiums. This is my first. I'm a little worried about it. I've read that you can simply not water or give very little water to dendrobiums from Halloween till valentines day, but this is well past that time. I also know it went from a humid greenhouse to inside my house where humidity tends to be between 40% and 55%, according to a cheap meter I have. Temps hover around the mid to low 70's. It gets moderately bright light from a 6500k cfl and a west facing window.

Can anyone reassure me on about this plant. Should I water it more or be doing anything to stimulate it to start growing? There is a small keiki on the side. It has good roots and I'll remove it once it starts growing, but I worry about the roots not being in the media and getting that little extra bit of water. That's mostly why I soak instead of straight water.

Once it does start growing, do you water it as often as you water other orchids, or do you look for a sign, like the canes starting to shrivel. With it liking a period of dryness, I just didn't know if it liked a lot of water once it started growing. Thanks for the help.

[u bada]

Not sure why but photos aren't showing up...

I've posted about this before, not about unicum but about other species... and as of yet, no one has given me direct insight, so it remains a bit of a mystery... maybe there's not a lot of den species growers here, or no one seems to have a concrete answer... so hopefully someone may chime in with something perhaps more... hopeful... haha...

Many of my den species have basically sat there without leaves some of them and did not grow for months. Actually this is known to be normal for Nobile type species, however there are many other species that pretty much do this. They lose their leaves, give them a drier winter, colder temps and viola flowers in spring summer, new growths follow...

however, doesn't always work that way...

We know that many den species can lose their leaves, but considering I've had a couple species without leaves for more than 6 months and no sign of life other than green pseudobulbs, the question I have is can this be normal and ok for certain species, and the answer is, well, yes.

I have lamyiae which is allied to unicum, and it's been leafless for 8 months+ and still no growth, and finally talking with Andy phillips about it recently he told me that they are the last to leaf out, sometimes not leafing out till july or august then losing their leaves in november... not a long growing season, if you ask me.

I have unicum now but got it a couple months ago with a spike that blasted and a new growth, thankfully. The growth is ever so slowly growing but no new roots as of yet.

So basically all that said, for this species it's a bit normal to not grow really for a while into spring. Just be patient, and I'd say keep it watered so stems don't shrivel and hopefully it should start a new growth at base, then roots, then water it very well to plump it up until it loses it's leaves and goes dormant again. I wouldn't water it too much until new roots form however.

as prologue, let me say that I grew it indoors under lights years ago and that thing never really went leafless, was not subjected to cooler winters, and still flowered well in spring for me. so it's possible that if temps don't go down, it may not lose it's leaves completely and me keep it cycled a bit faster to pick up growing faster earlier in spring. I'd still cut watering back in winter.

I grow outdoors here in LA and being colder and drier does seem to slow things down with warmer growers, but many of my dens that were dormant started new growths, so again just may take time.

[Dalton]

Thanks for the reply. I'm down here in South Carolina. I could try growing it outside if anyone thinks that would help. The guy I got it from lives about 45min from my house, so we have the same weather. I think he said it had recently flowered and then dropped all the flowers before I bought it.

Like I said above, I'm growing it inside by a light and a window. He was growing it in a hoop house year round. I'm sure it did experience some temp fluctuations. He could have skimped on the water, but I think the humidity would have been fairly high all year round.

It just makes my skin crawl, not being able to water an orchid a lot. I'm usually having to kick myself in the butt to get up and water all of them. I know mentally that I don't need to water it too much, but it's hard to let it sit there for a week or two and not want to water the mess out of it.

I'll continue to just water it periodically until new growth comes around. If anyone else has any insights, they'd be appreciated as well. Thanks again U Bada.

---------- Post added at 04:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:35 PM ----------

I think the picture address was screwed up. I'm at work, so none of the pics will show for me. I corrected the link, I hope. They should display now.

[Bud]

This orchid plant has the smell of crayons when it blooms. You need not worry about it losing leaves it will grow new canes and that will produce leaves. The mature canes will produce flowers from mid winter to spring. This kind of Dendrobium grows in cool to warm temperatures and give it medium amounts of light. You may put it outdoors but not in direct sun. Keep the plant evenly moist and fertilize every other week during growth season mid spring to late autumn. During winter reduce watering until new shoots appear but it doesn't mean you let it dry out if you are watering it in the warmer months every other day= then in mid winter water it weekly until you see new growths then continue with regular regimen. You inherited this in a clay pot with a good mix so you may replant it after two years. Two weeks before frost put it indoors.

[u bada]

ok, see the pics... the canes look nice a plump so I think it's good to go... the water stored will help to get that new growth going.

You can look at it this way, without leaves much transpiration can happen, so that means not much water intake from roots is happening... so if you water a lot when it's in this state, it's just going to sit there in the pot and it'll lead to rot. Many dens from mid elevation forests in southeast asia, like this one, do experience a dry season and dropping it's leaves and going dormant is one way to deal with it, and we just sorta have to go with it's cycles to grow well...

Not sure how people get away with growing things in pots and moss, but looks like the media could be deteriorated by now so eventually soon you may need to repot. after you water it again and it's moist, try sticking a toothpick in there and seeing how rotten or fresh it is... if rotten of course, switch to a media your comfortable with that can allow it dry out a bit... Potted you definitely want to make sure not to overwater this kind of den.

Bud gives good culture advice especially as he grows on your side of the country. I would add, that it's not too particular on needing high humidity, I think 50 works just fine. lower it may need spraying down early mornings or early evenings on warmer drier days.

[estación seca]

I think it'll grow when it gets warmer.

[Bud]

Den. unicum is endemic to Vietnam, Laos and Thailand which is a very humid equatorial area of the world. They have monsoon rains that floods the plains and a couple of dry months but then again the morning dew wets the roots of these plants so it never gets really dry not like other winter rests for other Dendrobiums where one must not water or suffer the blooms....on the last picture I noticed a small new growth so you must start watering it every other day. I also noticed that your media mix is moss....try to get a Dendrobium mix online from one of the reputable orchid mix sellers....you want the water to drain and let the media be evenly moist but not soaking wet=and moss does soak water. Notice that the longest cane you got has the tip starting to turn yellowish, it means it is dying. The roots of that specific cane must be rotting so don't let the others get the rot too and change media already and follow a watering and fertilizer regimen religiously. Just remember by mid winter stop fertilizer and do a dryer watering regimen.

[Subrosa]

Mine is mounted, and I water it practically every day, year round. I don't worry about humidity, and it can get pretty low over the winter. It usually blooms in the summer, but throws an occasional flower through late winter.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I had D. unicum briefly before snails killed every single new growth.

I would mount it now. Leave it outside, adjust to moderate light, let the dew & rain provide water until growth starts.

[Dalton]

Okay, guys. I need to do an update on this plant. A few weeks ago, I was watering it as mentioned, by setting it in a sink of warm water with a couple of other plants and letting them soak for a while.

When I went to pick it up out of the sink, the plant fell out of the media. There were just a few black roots at the bottom.

I decided to try to leave it out of the media and water it once a week, like one poster above mentioned. It has not done well. I can't remember if it was this post/site or somewhere else, but someone noted that one of the cane tips was yellowing. Well now, that cane as well as one growing out of it are mostly yellow and I feel I should remove them. The keiki that was growing on it is still okay, I suppose, but it along with the other canes have severely shrunk.

As of yesterday, I soaked the pot with the hard media and the plant and then placed the plant back in the media. I'm hoping that it'll hold a little more moisture for the plant and maybe slightly increase the humidity.

I really don't know what to do here. I've been told a couple of conflicting things and I'm obviously not doing the correct ones. Some people say that leaflessness for months is fine, others say that it never really drops leaves for them and they water year round. Some people have said not to really water at all when in dormancy, because it causes root rot. I don't know if that was me or the previous grower, but there was rot. Others say that dormancy means watering once a week as opposed to every other day.

The man I bought it from is part of a semi-local orchid society. I'll be going to a monthly meeting this Saturday and I plan to take it and ask him about it. However, I'd love a game plan from you guys. I'll attempt to get more pictures for you to look at.