coconut husks

[mde]

The leaf might have had sunburn. It is normal for most Dendrobiums to yellow and drop leaves off older canes. When mine do that I just pull it off.

As far as the chunk of coconut that it is in...You have a couple options. If you are not the type to over water you could just leave it alone, set the whole thing in a larger pot and fill in with a bark mix. If you have very humid conditions or tend to like to water a lot I would take it out of there because older coconut husk holds a LOT of water and tends to decay and eventually rot... you could soak it for a little while and then take your time to tease apart the block taking care to injure/lose as few roots as possible. I did this once and it took me awhile and a lot of patience, but it worked out alright in the end.

ME

[ewbie]

thank you so much to all your comments! its encourages me to be more patient to my plants and learned how to handle them. i hope the more senior members would post pictures of their plants to give some ideas to the newcomers like me. or is there a category of it already that i didn't know? if so, please tell me which one.
once again, thank you!

[Diane]

ewbie - there are lots of pictures posted. Go to the main forum and scroll down to the photo sections. There are ones for Dends and Onc., Catts etc., Paphs and Phrags......

[ewbie]

oh! thanks diane!

[ewbie]

Hi there! Just want some advice.
I have attached picture of these plants earlier in this thread. Can someone tell me how am I doing now?

[Hoa Tony Nguyen]

Your plants look OK to me. However, I would not place the pots over water collecting plates like that. Dendrobiums like to dry out between watering so having water at the bottom like that will encourage root rotting. You also might want to find a spot where there are more light for these dendrobiums.
Cheers. Hoa.

[ewbie]

Hi, Hoa!
I don't put anything on those plates. This might be helpful: I put in a plastic container that has holes on the bottom. I put aquarium pebbles to hold the container and maybe it will help to cool the roots. Mostly, the medium is charcoal with a few coconut chips. I water them once everyday coz I observed charcoal dries up easily. I also use charcoal coz I want to water them almost everyday also to observe my plant. (can't resist) I use spray bottle with 20 sprays on each plant. I don't water if I see the container is still moist or if there's a little water on the container from the previous watering. This Jan-Feb. they are not exposed to sun but now summer is approaching, they get morning sun, I think, an hour a day. Do you think dendrobs will not live in this condition?
Thank you helping me out.

Regards, ewbie

[Tanya]

Hi Ewbie,
I think one hour of direct sun everyday may not be enough. Dendrobiums are much happier and bloom better if they are exposed to at least few hours of direct sun daily. Filtered sunlight throughout the day is best.

[ewbie]

Hi Ewbie,
I think one hour of direct sun everyday may not be enough. Dendrobiums are much happier and bloom better if they are exposed to at least few hours of direct sun daily. Filtered sunlight throughout the day is best.

The benches are specially made for the orchids and now there is not enough sunlight to grow them. What type of orchid would be okay? This area could also get so wet during rainy season. sniff sniff

[Diane]

Ewbie - can you move the shelves so that the dends get more sun? If not, can you build or buy another bench and put it in a brighter location and put some other plants on the existing shelves?

Where are you located so we can give you some suggestions for plants that don't need as much sun, and maybe someone will have an alternative solution for the dends...

Where are our Dend experts?