Old dendrobium canes

[jrodpad]

Marion,

Very interesting. You don't happen to have any pics of this process that you can share, do you?

- J

[Call_Me_Bob]

never tired it so nope, sorry

[wevans]

I need to cut off some old shrivelled canes off my den, but when i make the cuts what do i seal the cuts with? Someone told me cinnamon powder or candle wax. Can someone give me the correct advise.

[jaxorchidman]

I have taken old canes from nobile plants as well as regular Den.'s, put them in at ziplock bag with some lightly moistened sphagnum moss or you can also use a tuppoware (sp?) container with the same moistened medium. Cover or zip up and just give it a few weeks. I have had 3 keiki's of of one cane before and have started new plants with that. Goodluck!

[Spook In Spain]

Hi there

Reading your notes on den canes, prompted me to ask if you could help with the following question
I have recently aquired a Dendrobium Hard cane orchid which has similar canes to my Dend Nobile ones, the hard cane has currently some small purple flowers on it, is it possible to propagate in a similar method to the soft cane which can be cut into sections which shoot after a period of time ?
The plant has a number of short canes with to leaves on the top only are these new canes they are about half the size of the main canes.
I can post a photo if that helps

steev in sunny spain

[NYCorchidman]

Leafless old canes are still source of energy for the whole plant and do not need to be removed. Plants will decide when to discard them and let you know by browning&drying them up.
With no leaves, the cane itself is still pretty much alive and even photosynthesize. After all, they are green!

Now, for propagation, it is recommended that you use large, green and wrinkle free (healthy looking in short) canes. Some canes will readily produce keikis, some never will. most are somewhere in between.

I don't recommend sealing up the container canes are in. fungal growth...
Cover with some hole might work better and safer in that regard.
By the way, I've had canes in a empty plastic container with no moisture or mix or whatsoever. placed the container under kitchen sink, dark and dry for almost two month. there were a few keikis.
turns out, that particular dendrobium is just crazy keiki producer anyhow!

[Spook In Spain]

Hi there
Many thanks for the info regarding the canes, another question please, the canes have three leaves either side at the top of the cane with minature spikes emerging at the base of each leaf, the flowers have gone, do the spikes require cutting off or will they just die off, and finally will new spikes replace the old ones, many thanks, i know too much information leads to losing other stuff but i will take the risk
Steve