Adventures in repotting.... Dendrobium
On a trip to the local nursery (DH even loves to go, despite the requisite lingering in the succulent/tropicals area), I found this Den. Janya Ukon x Janya Maloness on clearance. Sure, there are a million reasons to stay a hundred feet away from the clearance area of a non-orchid-specializing garden center, and certainly never buy an orchid there, but I just love Dendrobiums. The price was excellent; I couldn't resist. A few weeks later it became apparent I had a serious mealy bug infestation. Nasty burrows of mealy bugs in the crevice of every old leaf.
Instead of tossing it in the trash, I decided on brutal repotting. Root bound with many canes, I figured I could toss about half and still divide into two. I had to trim the tops of several canes due to cracking, infestation, etc. (I brushed the cut ends of with cinnamon) and I pulled off most leaves to clean mealy bugs out from underneath. I used the Imperial Dendrobium mix from repotme. Finally, I sprayed the whole thing down with a combo insecticide and antifungal spray. Except, well... I grabbed carpet cleaner and then wondered why everything was so foamy! (After a frantic rinse I re-sprayed with the correct bottle.)
I certainly hope that carpet cleaner is much less toxic to Dendrobiums than to mealy bugs, and time will tell. The plants look fine a week later.
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