Help! Cracked Phal spike. New dendro and mendenhall hildos care. BABY dendro care.
 

Album of images.

On the phal: This is a phal I've had for 1 year. This will be its first rebloom. At some point, the new spike developed a crack near the base. I have a feeling it happened when trying to rearrange my forest and get this particular phal back into its window spot that it loves. Does this need to be fixed, can it be fixed? Or do I just wait and see what happens? The spike is still growing vigorously.

On the baby dendro: What do I do with this thing? It's about the size of a quarter. Just keep it happy in the moss until it gets larger? It's got coarse bark and terracotta pieces at the bottom. Judging by the little root it looks happy.

On the mature dendro: Does this need repotting? I notice this mass of roots circling the pot on the oncidiums I get, as well. I know oncidiums like a tight pot, but how tight is too tight?

On the mendenhall: This guy is a rescue. He's trashed from neglect, but in the couple weeks I've had him he's put out a tiny bit of new root growth. He also appears to have a new little leaf or pseudobulb (I can't really tell). I haven't pulled him out of the pot to look at roots and don't want to touch him too much before I'm sure of what to do. Any suggestions?

The crack is perfectly normal...nothing to worry about.

Dendrobiums like it pot bound so while it is growing and blooming I would keep it. Don't know how is your humidity during this time of the year but I would get rid of the moss as soon as I can (except maybe for the little one while it's still young).

The other one...I'm not familiar with it but that new root is a good sign, although I suspect the medium is a little too dry.

I linked to an album at the top of the post. I will edit to include images through this site as well for easier viewing. Sorry about that.

Just commenting on the cracked spike. If there is a concern that the spike can't support the weight of the blooms, just carefully stake it enough to support it. Don't try to bend it though, could make matters worse. If it is still growing, the stem is still functioning to send water and nutrients to the buds.

Thank you rbarata.

On the Mendenhall, that pic was taken immediately after watering. It's been a little less than a week since last watering. Seems to dry out pretty fast being coarse bark, but I suspect it might have a little to do with substrate being old and him needing a repot as well.

Humidity in this room is at about 40%. They're kept near to the windowsill, so temps over there are probably a couple degrees lower especially at night, but the house temp is about 73F throughout winter (now) and 76F in summer. They have filtered light through the window and are under full LEDs as well.

---------- Post added at 12:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:57 AM ----------

Forgot to tack on about the phal as well--the spike appears to be healing itself from the first time I saw it about a week ago. When I first noticed it looked more like it was all but beheaded and now it's much sturdier. It's a bit too short to stake yet I think, but as it grows and gets heavier I will keep an eye on it.

As you'll read they like it more or less moist. As it is growing some roots now some people might sugest to repot it now but I would wait one more season since you've rescued it right now (or at least wait for spring time)....new conditions + new medium + repotting= too much stress.
But I'm not familiar with them so more experienced members will give better advise.

Psychopsis papilio and its hybrids (like your Mendenall) like to be drier than Oncidiums. Yours looks like it might like a repot - but these really hate having roots disturbed. What I would suggest is to take it out of the pot, gently shake off old medium that isn't stuck, and put report with bark of about the same size. New roots will take hold soon. New root is a good time to repot (but again, gently... don't remove any old medium that doesn't fall off by itself)