Please help, Dendrobium Phal with rotting cane

[Nush]

Hi everyone,
Happy New Year. I'm new to this forum and I apologise for starting with a problem. My husband gave me a dendrobium phal for Christmas. We've just moved to Singapore and I've been talking about getting an orchid.

But I've made some mistakes. It had 5 canes, 2 flowering ones and 3 non-flowering. 2 canes had leaves with a lot of black blotches. I read online it's likely fungus and I should remove the affected area and I cut the canes that didn't have flowers on then I later found out I shouldn't have done that

But I found that one of the canes had brown spots on. Now one of the leaves (in the flowering cane) is turning yellow. I'll attempt to attach photos

Just a few more pieces of information: the orchid is on a balcony with plenty of bright light. Temperatures here are around 80F, highly humid but there's decent ventilation. I'm watering twice a week but with very little water - I'm probably too cautious.

Any suggestions would be helpful. I'd like to save my first orchid, then live to tell the tale

Thank you in advance.

[estación seca]

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

You're not watering enough. See how shriveled are the canes? They should be round and sh0iny. When you don't water enough canes shrivel and leaves drop off just as yours are doing. I don't at all think you have fungus.

These can't take full direct sun, but they like very bright shade or dappled sun.

I can't see the medium in the pot. With those kinds of temperatures and light, if the medium is large with lots of air spaces, you could water a Den phal every day or two.

[Nush]

Estacion, thank you very much for your reply. Ah it’s the water. I’ve read so much about overwatering so I’ve been very cautious. I’ll start watering more often. The medium is charcoal. I believe most orchids sold in Singapore are in charcoal. I’ve tried to take a better picture of the roots (attached).

In a way I’m relieved it’s not rotting. Hopefully I can rectify my mistake. Thank you so much

[Shadeflower]

nush it depends a bit on your substrate and how much an orchid drinks.
Like an angraecum in a cold environment in a compact substrtate is very fragile.

But a dendrobium drinks a lot, charcoal is very airy and dries fast and I presume you are in a warm environment.

In charcoal it would be difficult to overwater. The roots are perfect. Just water a little more. Still avoid overwatering - to me it looks like you have been watering well so just increase the frequency a little

[Nush]

Thank you, that makes complete sense to me. I’ve been watering little but not often. I need to water little and often. Hopefully I can post a pic of the Dendrobium when the canes are in a healthy state. I must admit I have plenty of friends a d family who garden but none of them have had any luck with orchids so this forum has been very helpful.

[estación seca]

Don't water just a little. Completely flush water throughout the pot so everything in the pot is wet. In charcoal in your climate you could do this every one or two days.

[Nush]

Thanks. I did this in the morning and I will see tomorrow how the plant looks like. If it’s dry I’ll do it again tomorrow otherwise I might wait one more day. Could I ask how do I fertiliser the orchid. I have a special orchid fertiliser spray. Do I spray it on a day that it’s not being watered (if I’m watering every other day) or do I water it first then apply the spray?

[Shadeflower]

answering a fertilizer question is difficult, there is lots of ways to do it. It sounds like a ready made spray but it could be a foliar spray, I'm not too familiar using a spray to water pots long term. It doesn't sound like the spray will last that long though if it is a ready made solution. That will be used up fast so you'll have to think about getting some more in the future. Maybe something that lasts a bit longer that is for you to decide.
It's hard to know what is available in singapore. See if you can get fertilizer sold for house plants, generally that can be used for orchids just use 1/4 the rate they recommend for house plants on your orchids.

[estación seca]

The old canes will not become fat again. With good care new growth will be healthy. It usually takes days to weeks to see changes in orchids.

Most fertilizer is powder that is mixed into the water. You use that instead of plain water on the day you want to fertilize. Some people use a very small amount of fertilizer with each watering, and others use somewhat larger amounts once a week or so.

Den phals don't need much fertilizer when they aren't making new growth. But when they do make new growth you can fertilize.