Hello new to ochid obseesion and having problem with my dendrobiums
 

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I am from PA and have recently discovered a fascination with orchids. Obsession... really. IN the past year I have collected 19 orchids:Phalaenopsis, Cattleyas, , Bolopetalum Midnight Blue 'Cardinal's Roost a Miltoniopsis (pretty sure) and 3 Dendrobiums. Just bought one today. All of my other plants show signs of root growth, except for my Dendrobiums,
all of my orchids have humidity trays, a fan that runs on them 24/7, they get misted every morning, lightly fertilized once a month.
They all sit in a South facing window, bright yet indirect light.2 of my Phals are budding one of them had 2 of the buds fall off, it might have been because of a draft, but the other one is still holding on. The other Phals buds still look good... So i am hopeful, Then i suppose i will know if they are getting enough light.
Now to the Dendrobiums, their psuedobulbs are not withered away, but their roots are not doing are not doing so hot. I have yet to see new growth of the roots. One of them lost all but one leaf, but when. i moved and it lost it. It is in the worst shape of the 3. Dend. #2 has had top growth new leaves, Den. # 3 is the same.

They have all been repotted and when i repotted them i cut the dead roots away , but they are still dying.:( Do i repot them again? OR is that to much stress. They are all in a bark/spagnum moss mix. All the equipment was sterilized
I have let them dry out a little bit more between waterings than the others. But how long is long enough? I don't know what to do, and i am fully convinced that they can be saved.
Or do i do that bag and moss thing? but i'm afraid to because i don't know how wet it should be.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

:rofl:

You made a funny without knowing it! :)

There's an orchid show held here in Southern California in the city of Costa Mesa called "Fascination of Orchids". Not the exact words you used but close enough to remind me!

Anyways, on to more serious matters...

Do you have pics of the Dendrobium in question. It would help out a lot if you also knew what the type was (ie. nobile, spathulata, phalaenopsis).

Just based off what you've said, I suspect overpotting and overwatering due to overpotting.

Orchids in general should be grown potbound in pot culture.

My thoughts are along the lines of what King said, and that you may be overwatering and that Dendrobiums love to be potbound. They love strong indirect light too. Do you have name tags for these Dendrobiums? Not all Den. like to be treated the same, I've found. Pictures would help so much. :)

I have no idea what type it is, I picked the dendrobium it up at Lowes, i dont have a pic of it in flower.
Its roots were in bad shape when i got it. I think i waited too long to repot it unlike the other ones i got from there. It is possible that it could be in too big of a pot, but i feel that in the past 2-3 months i have been watering it maybe every 2-3 weeks. I mist it, but maybe i shouldn't mist it's roots? And i don't always mist the roots it depends . But I have no idea if what i am trying to do even works in theory, but i figured id give it a shot. I misted it because i wasn't going to water it.
I will try to post a pic tomorrow but its just a stem, will that help? do you need to see what it has left of its root system?

Hi Dancing mama bear and welcome to the OB.
Pictures of the complete plant including the roots will be very helpful.
Joann

Mama - definitely plan on joining the Central PA Orchid Society. They meet on the PSU campus, and are a nice group of folks that can be a great resource for you (I spoke there once, and they were great!). CPOS Home

Hello here are some pics of Den. #1.
I believe the rot is little worse than i had thought. I see a little on the base of the (not sure of the proper names) stem (not the pseudo bulbs). I put cinnamon on it. It might be too little too late.
But if that one is lost would the others survive without it?

I had looked into meeting with the Central PA group it has been more a matter of making it over to one of their meetings, with my schedule and my 2 year old. But thank you for reminding me Ray!

I'm willing to put in the time and care to heal this lil fella. I'd rather try than not. I feel that it would be cruel not to.

:hello im also in pa, its great to know someone else who is also obsessed in the area. what part of pa are you in?

ok lets get to the point.

they look really bad. you might be able to save them with water culture take a look at this thread

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ing-water.html

Hey Mama bear,

I have a dendrobium rescue that is pretty much the same shape as yours. Mine have no root at all just a couple or bear canes. Shrivled and pretty sad looking.

I have been sphag and bagging mine for about a month and nothing. The oncidium in the bag next door as got a couple of shoot on it now. I have had the canes soaking in some rooting hormone I am wondering if I should put it back in the sphag and bag and see if it managed to absorb any of the rooting hormones or maybe just leave it in the 3/4 inch of water and see where that goes.

I am going to follow this thread and see where it goes. This is my only Den that I have and would like to see it come back from the dead (then the inner nerd in me can call it Phoenix).

Greetings from the west coast. There are so many PA people, and to find one from my home town seems very odd to me in deed. I'm originally from State College, but I've been in Oregon for about 6 years now. I can't say I miss it, but I bet your orchids are loving the crazy SC humidity:biggrin: