Dendrobium Seedlings Salvageable?
 

Hello all. I have a few dendrobium seedlings that I’m not sure if they’re salvageable.

I’ve attached a couple of representative pictures.

The plants in question are Dendrobium Everlasting Love, Dendrobium Lorrie Mortimer, and Dendrobium Hawaii Spectacular.

I have the mantra “if it’s green it’s still alive” in my mind.

Questions:
1. Are seedling plants in this condition salvageable?
2. If so, does anyone have any suggestions on a treatment?

I’ve seen soak in kelp water, cinnamon coating, just set above water, etc.

Some of what I’ve seen also seems to be directed towards phalaenopsis, so I’m not sure if the method would work well with dendrobiums.

In case it matters for how to possibly salvage these orchids:

1. Dendrobium Lorrie Mortimer = dendrobium stratiotes, dendrobium bigibbum, and dendrobium antennatum

2. Dendrobium Hawaii Spectacular = dendrobium spectabile, dendrobium bigibbum, dendrobium alexandrae

3. Dendrobium Everlasting Love = dendrobium phalaenopsis hybrid

Those are all warm-growing hybrids that need to stay evenly moist, especially as seedlings. What are your growing conditions? How have you been watering them?

The roots are still good, and they are likely to survive with proper care. I would pot them normally and keep them warm. Watering will depend on your choice of medium. But they should never go dry.

They were is sphagnum moss. My intention was to repot but trying to decide if I should treat first.

Humidity latterly has be 30%-45%
Temps fluctuate between 67-72F. They are grown indoors.

I was reading about a kelp soak treatment, which made me think I’d like to consider a treatment before repotting. I also have some bloom booster, but I’m afraid that’d be too harsh.

You need to keep them much more humid and warm, seedlings are much less tolerant of adverse conditions than mature plants. I would put them on a heat mat with 80 degree days and 70 degree nights, keep them fairly shady, and with humidity between 70-80%. The bloom booster will do nothing other than waste time and money. What brand of kelp supplement are you using and how old is it.

Hi Lil Duck. I have some Old Age brand I bought a couple of months ago. I have some KelpMax that’s almost that old … short answer: not too old.

As far as heat mats and humidity, I can do that. For these plants, probably a humidity tray would do the trick, do you think? Unfortunately, we’re just starting to go into our spring here, so humidity seems to dip before going back to a 50% average with the indoor temperature controls running.

Did they look like that on arrival? They could have been defoliated by spider mite attack. Den. seedlings are highly susceptible to them, and spider mites prefer low humidity. That would explain being leafless with good roots.

Your temperatures are lower than ideal for these. Humidity trays don't work. They don't raise humidity. The room is too big.

I don't think you need to treat further. Sphagnum is good for these, but don't get it sopping wet. Keep it evenly just moist.

Do you have a big clear plastic bin lying around?? If so then you can cover the seedlings and keep them nice and humid, just remember to lift the cover from time to time to prevent the air from becoming stagnant. Humidity trays don't raise humidity very well.

No, Estación. They were healthy seedlings upon arrival. This was my doing. I believe they got a lot too dry then a little too wet and then didn't seem to bounce back well. No evidence of spider mites.

Do you have any suggestions? I water my orchids by dousing, but that seems to drench the moss. I believe you've said in the past you use a drip system?

That seems like a way to start. I also have a humidifier that I can use nearby to raise the ambient humidity for these plants.

These will lose new growths and older leaves if they go dry for very long.

Tiny seedlings in moss I water by hand. My growing are is warmer than yours for most of the year so my Den. seedlings grow faster and use more water. In the summer I need to water seedlings like that every 1-2 days, and I soak them. But in your cooler growing area, or in cooler periods during my winter, I run the water over the top of the moss for only a second or so. This doesn't soak the moss, but leaves it evenly damp after the water diffuses through the moss. For Den. seedlings I'll water again before they're dry.

I would not put these into any other medium now. When they are growing strongly, and larger, you can think about that.

Your plants probably have enough mass to make one more new growth. If you care for that properly they will grow on strongly. This kind of hybrid can be in constant growth.

Be careful switching to a heat mat. Set a thermometer on the heat pad by itself, first, to ensure temperatures aren't too high. This is especially true if you enclose them to raise humidity.