Soft cane dendrobium - advice for a beginner?
 

Hi, I'm new and looking for advice on how to care for a soft cane dendrobium. I've been googling but have been finding contradicting advice about when to change watering patterns, seems to be consistent when described by growth phase but not when described by month or season. I don't know what phase mine is currently in.

I got it in early January (from a supermarket), it was in bloom and had some flower buds. Everything has gone well so far, the buds bloomed and the flowers lasted a long time, the last one fell off a day ago. It has 2 canes (blooms were only on 1), each cane has one keiki. I keep it indoors next to a window with indirect sunlight, my home is usually between 20C and 24C. I don't know humidity level but I try to keep my home on the more humid side.

I've been watering about every 10 days. I think I missed one watering and one cane (the one that had flowered) began to shrivel, I watered it (the flowers fell off within 2 days afterwards) and it is now much less shrivelled.

I would greatly appreciate any advice on how to care for it, especially regarding different growth phases (and suggestion of what phase mine is in).
How important is fertiliser? I don't have any currently.
I have read that if leaves fall to leave them and not remove them from the pot, is this important as fertiliser? does this apply to flowers as well?
Please correct me if I'm doing anything obviously incorrect!

Thank you in advance!

I am no expert with nobile Dens. , but have managed to rebloom the two I have. After the blooms have gone, it should start putting up new growths from the bottom. As they start to grow ands as the weather gets warmer, they require lots of light, lots of water, and enough fertilizer to keep them growing well and getting new bulbs plump. Use a low nitrogen fertilizer. In fall as the nights get cooler they must be allowed to cool down at night even to close to frost.(Don't let them freeze )
They need that night cool and day warmer to set buds which should show up just before winter. Once buds are started, you can allow more even temps. Cooler temp cause later blooms and warmer temps cause earlier blooms. I keep mine outside on my deck until temps are just above freezing at night and move them into my heated porch for winter.

I've seen the terms hard cane and soft cane Dens but I have no idea what they are supposed to mean. They all feel the same to me.

From what I've read so far they seem to be the 2 main types of dendrobiums and that the care for each type differs (some are more deciduous and some more evergreen.. I think ?)

Thanks... What I'm getting at is you can't tell the plants apart the feel of the cane, so how do you tell which is which?

Thanks for responding!

What do you mean by "new growths from the bottom" ? New canes?

Should I slow the watering after the blooms drop and before new growths are visible then start watering more when I see new growths?

---------- Post added at 08:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:00 PM ----------

Some of the visual things I came across were the color of the leaves, location of the blooms, flexibility of leaves.

This video is where I got the leaf flexibility from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg9HfKxrmxM

---------- Post added at 08:17 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:14 PM ----------

A quick description I found, it wont let me post the url though.

"Dendrobiums are separated into two main groups: hard-caned and soft-caned.
Hard-caned Dendrobiums have tall pseudobulbs that are very thin and their leaves are generally a little darker in color than the soft-caned. Hard-caned Dens are evergreen and often keep their leaves for many years before they drop them. Hard-caned Dens grow spikes from the top of the cane and produce gorgeous flower sprays.

Soft-caned Dendrobiums have leafy pseudobulbs that are long and slim. Their leaves are generally a little lighter in color than the hard-caned Dens. They grow leaves along the length of the cane and the blooms sprout from the individual stems that are along the cane itself. Soft-caned dendrobiums are deciduous and drop their leaves
when the weather gets cold."

Soft canes usually require winter rest, while hard canes don't. Some hard canes bloom multiple times thru out the year. The requirement for both of these are almost identical. They both need bright light, i grow both out in the balcony with shades. I live in SoCal, where humidity is relatively low, and it gets dry out fast in the balcony, i water it daily during hot season. I fertilize weak weekly. Hope that helps.

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Now I see....

What that quote refers to as "hard-caned" are called Dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrids or Den phals, named after the species Dendrobium phalaenopsis in their ancestry. They mostly require warmth and even watering and fertilizing all year.

What the quote refers to as "soft-caned" are called by most orchid growers Dendrobium nobile hybrids or Den nobiles or nobiles, hybrids of a group including Dendrobium nobile and other species with similar growing conditions. They need lots of water and fertilizer after blooming until midsummer, when you continue watering but stop fertilizing; then a cool winter rest with less water when they drop their leaves, with water resuming when buds are clearly showing. People who can't give them about 50 F / 10C in the winter often can't get them to bloom.

There are at least 4 or 5 other kinds of Dendrobium groups with different growth conditions through the year. So, if you only think about hard-caned and softt-caned you still won't understand Dendrobiums.

If you read the Dendrobium forum here you will learn more about them.

Hard canes are the Den Phals, soft canes are the nobiles. That being said, the hard canes are just that. They are bigger around at the bottom and taper toward the top usually leaves only on the upper portion of the cane. Soft canes are very small around at the base and get very plump toward the middle and then taper slowly toward the top and leaves are the whole length of the cane. Hard canes bloom from the top and soft canes bloom along the length of the cane. The soft canes are the ones that need the fall cool down to bloom.