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Thread: What happen to my orchid?

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  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default What happen to my orchid?

    Bought it 2 weeks ago, leaf and flower falling almost everyday ever since. Help...

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  2. #2
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    Igor
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    This is a Dendrobium. Some of these are naturally deciduous, but they flower on bare plants and before the foliage has regrown. That is not the case here though, and sounds like something is wrong.

    We have to see what Dendrobium growers have to say (I only have D kingianum, for the perfume). I will be interested to see what they think of charcoal as a medium.

    Sorry I can't help, but others will!

  3. #3
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    Yew-Sung
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    First, welcome to OT. I don't think there is anything seriously wrong with your evergreen, hard-cane dendrobium. Flower/leaf drop is a natural process of ageing and in your case here, it could also be due to the plant suffering from shock, as a result of being recently repotted. Charcoal is the preferred potting medium here in the tropics for dendrobiums.

  4. #4
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    Kelly
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    I agree totally with Yew- the charcoal works great, since these plants don't like having their feet wet and need a fast draining media. Since I don't know where you are, I wonder if there could be a touch of cold shock as well as general shock from a change in growing conditions. Phal type dens (hardcanes in general) do NOT like the cold at all; anything below 60*F can be stressful to them. They respond by dropping flowers/buds and leaves from older growths. As long as it isn't getting chilled and receives enough light (they need pretty bright), it should perk up quickly and maybe even bloom for you again in the next several months, probably off old growths.
    Probably not a problem with the good media, but watch the pseudobulbs for shrivelling- if they start doing so, you might need to take it out of the pot and check the roots. Dens don't like being disturbed, so I'd tend to leave it alone otherwise. It is possible it was just removed from a spoiled media and thrown in this pot/media before sale.

  5. #5
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    angela parris
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    Happy that you joined us, I am sure that you will get all the help you need to rescue your plant.
    You did not show us where you are located, this would help us to better advise on the best kind of potting medium for your conditions. I live in the Tropics and grow outdoors year round. The largest part of my collection is Dendrobium, and they are potted in a mix of Leca and charcoal. That works wellfor me.

    @ Yew, Pindar and others who responded. The Spike and leaves look like a Den, but the Psbs. are so short and fat that I am a little puzzled. What kind of Den. do you think it is?

  6. #6
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    Igor
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    Angela turns our attention to something so obvious we seem to have overlooked it! It is certainly a very unusual Den, if it really is one: the canes (pseudobulbs) are extremely shortened: so that the internodes are almost eliminated, bringing the leaves very close together. Not knowing the genus well, I just assumed it was a Dendrobium I had never seen or been aware of. But it is certainly atypical, to put it mildly! Maybe it is a random mutation preserved by a puzzled breeder? Come on all you Den fans out there: tell us what is going on here!

  7. #7
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    Kelly
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    I wonder if it is a combination of foreshortening from the photo angle (that's how my eye read it until you pointed it out) and its previous growing conditions/ dwarfism? When I moved last spring, I brought my favorites with me first (which the dens are among). There are TREES here lol- last yard was a sunblasted wasteland. Until I could get chains up in a better spot, the plants spent a couple months along a fence by huge oaks and under a dense cedar tree. On the primary discolor hybrid especially, you can see a shortening of the internodes and an almost cupping(?) of the leaves on the growth put down while it was there. Moved out into stronger light, the nodes lengthened back out and the leaves resumed a normal appearance on the growth subsequent. Telling that it didn't bloom this year either, although both new growths are larger than last years. I can see if I can get a pic.
    Looking at the spur on the flower, the leaves and the background, I think Aye has one of those dwarfed phal type dens.

  8. #8
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    Carmen
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    I am curious about the comments on potting dends in charcoal or leca pellets. I know that they don't like wet roots, but how do you keep pots from tilting when the plant is big and heavy? I put rocks on the bottom of the pots to give them weight and the plants seem to be happy. Is this a good idea? A nursery owner also suggested potting them solely in small rocks.

  9. #9
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    Igor
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    Quote Originally Posted by tradceci View Post
    I am curious about the comments on potting dends in charcoal or leca pellets. I know that they don't like wet roots, but how do you keep pots from tilting when the plant is big and heavy? I put rocks on the bottom of the pots to give them weight and the plants seem to be happy. Is this a good idea? A nursery owner also suggested potting them solely in small rocks.
    Carmen, I like what you say. Stability is very important to me as well. I use coarse gravel or large pebbles from the beach (very well washed!) in the bottom of a pot- whenever necessary. When plants arrive from a nursery and half the pot is filled with polystyrene chips it is so annoying: you cannot leave them to soak because they just float on the surface! That's why I usually repot at once.

    At least 80% of my orchids are either suspended from above or hooked onto the wall, so no pebbles there... but the others are either in waxed terracotta pots or bowls or have pebbles to steady them. I also use gravel in the lower part of tall cymbidium pots because their roots seem to love growing through gravel!

    I heard of a peach-canning factory boss in South Africa who used the peach-stones as a rooting medium for his orchids (after having the stones steam-sterilised). I guess he saw all this waste material and it looked like a good bet as a substrate. I believe it worked very well indeed. But I don't know if he grew dendrobiums!

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