Dendrochilum cf. stenophyllum care tips?

[GardenGnomeVariety]

Hello! This little guy, while growing new leaves/shoots, also has leaves turning yellow/drying and falling off I try not to let the media dry out (per aos.org
) and it's under indirect grow light. However I did just come across another care website (orchids.com/dendrochilum-stenophyllum/#description) indicating that this orchid should dry between waterings...

Any suggestions on which care sheet to follow? Also any advice what I can do so I can course correct on its care? All advice welcome. Thank you

u!

[Roberta]

What is the medium? And temperature? I don't have this particular one. In general, I let Dedrochilums dry out a bit between waterings (not soggy) but don't let them get completely dry. In fact, for the smaller ones, I have had my best success with sphagnum, or small bark in plastic baskets (net pots). Some dropping of leaves is just what they do naturally - once a growth has bloomed, it won't bloom again and eventually drops to make room for the new growth. So if you're getting new growth, it is likely fine. This species does grow on the warm side (elevation of 1000 m in the Philippines) Also, what are your light levels? I don't know for sure, but I suspect something like Phalaenopsis light would probably be about right.

As far as drying goes... consider the habitat. Generally pretty wet, even during the drier seasons there will be morning dew. So I would suspect that "dry" just means "less wet".

[GardenGnomeVariety]

I'm using a mix of mostly dendrobium mix ( Dendrobium Imperial Orchid Mix

– rePotme
) and a bit of sphagnum moss. It mimicked what the plant came with from the nursery. The inner pot has air holes and sits mostly on the rim of the decorative pot -- there's actually about an inch or so gap between the bottom of the inner pot and the bottom of the decorative pot. It dries out within a week and a half which is when I do a 10-15 min soak before dumping out the rest of the water.

As for the amount of light, I'm growing them near grow lights right next to an oncidium, neofinetia, and miltassia (all displaying new growths). It's not receiving light directly (the light bulbs cast over the other three orchids) but is right next to them.

[Roberta]

If it is just the oldest leaves, it may just be "force of nature" . Your growing style is quite different from mine, so my advice may not fit. If it were my plant, I would water it more frequently, let the water run through the pot, let it drain well - that approach flushes out fertilizer salts and pulls air into the root zone. (These are light feeders... you didn't mention fertilizer, my inclination would be the "weakly, weekly" approach, or even less often.) Consider dispensing with the decorative pot - Again, if it weren't there the plant will probably dry out faster, but that's a good thing - when water evaporates it's replaced by air, and most orchids really want "humid air" more than "wet". (A week and a half to dry out is a rather long time)

Again, these are just some thoughts on the subject, that may or may not fit your environment. But thinking about what the plant experiences in nature, you might want to try to get a little closer to that - it gets rained on pretty much daily for an hour or two, then dries out. So more frequent watering, with a less-retentive mix so that there is faster drying, might help it.

[GardenGnomeVariety]

Thank you so much, will try and do that.

[DeaC]

Agree with Roberta but 1 thing I'll add is that they like to be potbound. I would repot yearly but upon learning this, I've let them stay put for 2-2.5 yrs and as long as other conditions are met,plant blooms very well for me. Mine are wenzelii(red and yellow) and tenellum.