Broken Dendrobium Rooting & Potting Advice
 

Today the Orchid Gods smiled down on me and I managed to snap up 2 dendrobiums at my local Home Depot just as they were marked down to.....hang on to your hats!.....$0.96!!! One I bought (labeled as white, but looking more like very pale key lime pie) I have just discovered is broken at the base. One "stalk" is sturdy and intact but the other is broken, almost completely, just above the growing medium. My question is, can this "stalk" (proper terminology here??) be saved? Can it be forced to grow roots should I remove it completely? Also, the potting medium looks like a solid chunk of bark.....it's hard and brown, looks kind of like a slab of barkish/corkish stuff. Should I repot OUT of this into medium mix containing charcoal, etc? My OLD dendrobium has 15 flower spikes on it, so I'm fairly successful growing these, but this one has me stumped. I also have an oncidium, cattylea, mini cat, & a phal. Thanks for all incoming advice!!

Why won't it grow? Just remember that any healthy-looking orchid plant without roots always grow, can't say the same for orchid roots without the plant though!

The potting medium could be husky fiber, look out when watering using this medium as it doesn't dry out evenly, and also it decomposes quite easily...

It's not that it WON'T grow....just wondered if it would should I decide to remove it from the base of the plant (to which it was attached only "by a thread"). Last night during a chat I joined in on this site, someone recommended removing it all the way, place in large ziplock bag with damp sphagnum moss or cotton balls and place in sunny-ish locale, opening the bag every few days to let on fresh air. SO, I did that this morning and hopefully I will have a new shoot &/or roots appearing one of these days. The cane itself is about 12" long and appears quite healthy so my hopes are high. Also, I was informed that the husky stuff they are potted in is coconut and that they are OK in that for a while (as opposed to sphag). SHould they come out of that immediately or stay in there until next spring? I have tons of medium potting mix with charcoal, etc.

a good deal
 

friday i just loitered around home depot and saw some phal noids stuffed in a corner.
they looked healthy but had finished flowering.
i convinced the ASSOCIATE, that no one was going to bye it, and probably was on it last leg anyway.:evil:

i got 4 nice ones for 20 bucks.
the first pic is the way i got them packed tightly in spag moss.
the next 2 are after repotting in s/h (first time )
i
,m sooo excited:D
:scratchhead: why is it that so many orchids come without id?:angry:

The sphag should be okay as long as you only keep it moist and not sopping wet or soggy wet, it took me a while to get the hang of watering sphag...but now that I am used to it, I love it.

As far as placing the 'chid in a ziplock bag, which is known as sphag-n-bag and if you want more info I can direct you to a website, please keep in mind that it could take a month or several months to see new root growth, you really have to be patient. Good luck!

Snow, did you wait for new root growth before transfering into s/h? If not, prepare for a long ride! Some plants will take right to it, others will sulk and take a while to bounce back. I have lost a phal by just plopping it into the s/h without new root growth. Good luck!

Here's some info on "Sphag-n-bag":
Sphag-n-Bag

Moonflower, if you're looking at the medium and thinking it doesn't look good, go with your gut and change it. I repot every 'chid that I bring home because as consumers, we have no idea of what's lurking below ;)

What is that that they are planted in? I've never sese that before!

Tom

are you referring to the potting media or the pot?
the media ishygroproton and the pots are old juice bottles

you are scaring me becca. i hope all will be ok
i,ll try to keep my phals a little drier then normal
i,ve also done a den keiki with new roots and some paph,s.
i,ve gone a little overboard with the new s/h
but i read so many pos things about it,that i could,n,t stop myself. i,ll stop till i see some possitive results