Has my Den had too much Nitrogen?

[lais817]

Title says it all, has it had too much Nitrogen or not enough light, a mix of the two or is there another reason why I have such long, sorta floppy leaves? Haven't got it to re-bloom since I bought it either. It's growing in straight pine bark, medium-ish chunks I guess

[lais817]

*bump* Anybody?

[nutgirl]

To me, it looks like a light issue. This is just a guess.

I have a Dendrobium phal type. It gets full sun this time of year (our fall/winter) all day and 3000-4000 fc shade in the summer.
I realize your sunlight intensity may be different than mine but maybe bumping up the amount of light might help.

Mine has light green leaves about 4" long. It has bloomed regularly.

BTW - I fertilize mine along with all the rest of the crew, once a week, 20-10-20 about 1/2 tsp per gallon.

Maureen

[catwalker808]

It does look like too much nitrogen and too little light. Since you are in Darwin in the Northern Territory and in the tropical zone, I could not understand why you would have insufficient light, even coming out of your "winter".

Your photo is at night, so it's not possible to see if the 40 or 50% shade cloth is your only cover or if there is cover above. But since you also have areca palms and since your orchid leaves seem to have been eaten by birds, I assume the shade cloth is the only cover. So I was even more confused why you should have insufficient. light.

Then I noticed your plant is hanging from a single white nylon snap tie. Considering the size and weight of your plant, I don't think that is the permanent location of the plant. You just hung it there to take the photo at night ... and to confuse me.

If the plant was growing somewhere else ... I'm guessing on the ground (because of the size), it was probably in the shade of your house eaves, the areca palms and the shade from your side fencing and ground cover. Even if the plant was hanging, for some reason it is not getting enough light.

In any case, I agree with nutgirl that you need more light ... but also less nitrogen ... or your plant will continue to be long and droopy with no blooms.
The plant can take lots more light, but ease it out, since you will be going into your hot tropical summer.

[catwalker808]

Oops. I clicked twice.

[lais817]

Originally Posted by catwalker808

It does look like too much nitrogen and too little light. Since you are in Darwin in the Northern Territory and in the tropical zone, I could not understand why you would have insufficient light, even coming out of your "winter".

Your photo is at night, so it's not possible to see if the 40 or 50% shade cloth is your only cover or if there is cover above. But since you also have areca palms and since your orchid leaves seem to have been eaten by birds, I assume the shade cloth is the only cover. So I was even more confused why you should have insufficient. light.

Then I noticed your plant is hanging from a single white nylon snap tie. Considering the size and weight of your plant, I don't think that is the permanent location of the plant. You just hung it there to take the photo at night ... and to confuse me.

If the plant was growing somewhere else ... I'm guessing on the ground (because of the size), it was probably in the shade of your house eaves, the areca palms and the shade from your side fencing and ground cover. Even if the plant was hanging, for some reason it is not getting enough light.

In any case, I agree with nutgirl that you need more light ... but also less nitrogen ... or your plant will continue to be long and droopy with no blooms.
The plant can take lots more light, but ease it out, since you will be going into your hot tropical summer.

The shadecloth is the only cover with full sun for about 3 hours in the arvo. The palm leaf is from a Chrysalidocarpus (Golden cane) and it's only just hanging over the fence from the neighbour's yard. The plant's been in this spot for nearly 2 months now, it's just on a zip tie til I remember to buy some hooks to put it on. It was hanging in a shadier place before its current one.

Thanks for the advice about the excess nitrogen, I might swap to a "blooming" formula, see how it goes