I've been growing for a few years now. Maybe 3. It really seems like longer than that, but maybe not. I don't feel like I'm a great grower, but I now feel like I can diagnose and remedy problems with my Phalaenopsis, my Cattleyas, and my Oncidiums. But Dendrobiums are so difficult!
I have a D. biggibum compactum that grows, but barely, and while I've been out of town, one of its growths has died off. I have two TJ's Den phal types that have yellowed and lost a few leaves since I brought them home, although one is producing keikis or more flower stalks beside the flower stalk it already has. I have a nobile backbulb that someone gifted me that was growing a new cane, but that one croaked as soon as it came into my care. And I have another Den phal that has really struggled the two years I've had it, that got burned when I brought it to LA, and that now is growing 7 new canes! I have a Den. Stardust 'Firebird' 4N that I've gotten to grow and bloom before, but this time of year it always loses some leaves and looks kind of crappy. It looks so scraggly and unkempt compared to photos I see of this plant. I just noticed that it has spider mites, so once I get some alcohol and kill those, perhaps it will look better.
I grow my plants in LECA, so they drain well. I grow them now in a windowsill where my B. nodosa and some of my more tender mini-Catts are happy (Pot. Love tapestry and Lc. Cluster Fire 'Cinnabar'), but also my Phal. Donna's delight is doing ok there with them, so I don't think it's too much light for Dens. I think I will just end up seeing what lives with me and what doesn't, but I feel like it's such a shot in the dark with these Dens and I have no idea what I'm doing!
D is for difficult Dendrobiums
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