Orchid Board - Most Complete Orchid Forum on the web !

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

It is possible to buy, wholesale, small plants of those Dendrobium nobile hybrids in bud, in little tiny root plugs. I'm guessing a supplier to Albertson's bought a lot of them, then moved them into much larger pots. They used brand-new house plant potting soil, which looks like it hasn't even been watered.

You [used to be able to but no longer can] read a lot about how to take care of this kind of Dendrobium on the Yamamoto Orchids Web site.

I would repot that Dendrobium now. It is unlikely to survive in that for very long, especially in your warm, wet and humid climate. It will need to be watered soon, and that much potting soil will suffocate the roots.

Are you a person who waters too much, or not enough?

If you water too much, take it out, shake off whatever you can, but don't go picking at the roots and damaging them. Just shake off as much old stuff as you can. Pot the plant into a pot just an inch bigger all the way around than the root ball. Use large-grade bark or clay LECA balls from a hydroponics shop.

If you don't water enough, get some long-fiber sphagnum moss. This is not peat moss and is not florist's green moss. It is pale tan and will say "long-fiber sphagnum moss" on the container. Take the plant out of the old pot and shake it as I wrote above. Get some of the sphagnum moss wet, and wring it out as tightly as you can with your hand. Wrap a thin layer all the way around the root ball. Wedge it into the smallest pot into which you can fit the root ball. A little cramming is OK.

As to watering: These shouldn't dry out during growing season, but the roots need air. If you overwater, the large chunks of medium will still provide plenty of air to the roots. You can water every day or two.

If you underwater, and used moss, don't let it get crunchy dry. Don't completely soak the moss when you water. Run some water over the top. The water will distribute through the moss evenly. The roots will be moist, yet still have air. You might need to water every 5-7 days, just before the moss gets crisp.

The plant will be top-heavy in either circumstance, so you can stand the pot inside a larger, heavier pot. Don't let it every stand in water at the bottom of the outer pot.

Good luck!

Edit June 15 2020:
Yamamoto Dendrobiums in Japan hybridizes and produces a great number of these plants. Their Web site formerly had excellent growing information for hobbyists. Unfortunately it is no longer there. You can still look at the varieties they grow, and maybe see one very similar to yours.

I saved the page, and summarized it in a post in this thread:
Uncertain if Dendrobium is still alive

Yamamoto now has a page showing how to force Dendrobium nobile for Christmas flowering in Japan's climate. There is a lot to learn from that page, but it is intended for growers who can artificially heat and cool their greenhouses during off seasons. Note they use coconut husk for growing medium, which many orchidists would say retains too much water for orchids. For many orchids that is correct, but this is a very thirsty orchid.