Dendrobium Spectabile when to repot?
 

Hello everyone. In April I finally got my hands on a lovely blooming size Dendrobium Spectabile. I was told that I should repot it into medium bark from the pure sphagnum that it was in but I waited until the flowers faded.

It's been a little while now and I see a new growth at the bottom of the plant. Should I repot it now, or should I wait?

Additionally, it's in a very tiny pot, so I assume that I should keep it the same size? Does it like being rootbound or should I slowly increase the pot size?

Last question: Two of the older small canes turned yellow and died. I assume that this is natural and not something to be overly freaked out about? It happened last month and I've seen no other problems, although a few leaves have turned yellow and fallen off some other canes.

You could repot now, or wait until the new growth is a bit bigger. They do like to be a bit snug in their pots, but there should also be room for some new canes.

Older growth will die eventually, and old foliage is shed after a time, tho my few latouria Dens hold the foliage a long time. And one I have had a few years hasn't lost any foliage in that time (I don't think). So maybe a repot sooner rather than later might be a good idea, so you can check the roots.

You can certainly repot into bark. Until recently, I had my spectabile seedling potted in a combination of pumice and perlite (as are my some of my other Dens). A month or two ago, I repotted it into chc, and that's been fine so far as well. So, various media can be used so long as the water requirements are met.

Dear Heavens that was a pain.

I'm not used to Dendrobium roots, are they supposed to/can they be brown and flatish? They didn't feel squishy *most of them*

Good thing I did this too, I hadn't noticed that the canes that were facing the window had all turned purple. I guess they were getting a bit too much sun.

Lastly, I couldn't get them back into the pot they were in at first. Put them in a pot about two inches bigger than the previous one. I added some clay pellets to make it drain faster and provide more aeration but I'm seriously considering trying to cram it back into the last pot.

*When I took it out of the last pot it was essentially a big root ball surrounded by sphagnum

Good roots should be whitish. I don't know if they could become discolored fro the sphag :dunno: