I'm not good with Dendrobiums :(

[OrchidTraci]

For some reason Dendrobiums and I just don't get along. I have managed to lose every one I have purchaced. They turn to sticks after flowering, their stalks turn yellow , like they are being underwatered or overwatered. I water them no more or less than I have read they should be. They are in a great location. The one has managed to flower(and they are quite beautiful), but it looks like the bulb is one deaths door.

On the bright side, my Renethera Monachia (Chachee is what I call it) is producing a shoot, which I am absolutly thrilled about!!

[LJA]

OrchidTraci! I was starting to miss you!

Congrats on the Renanthera! That's great! About the misbehaving Dendrobiums: they need a LOT more light and fertilizer than people usually give them. They do NOT make good indoor houseplants in a window or something. They need Cattleya intensity light. Lots of it.

Since it's winter and the sun is not as strong as in the summer, give them some direct sun early in the morning and late in the day. They'll lose leaves and canes when they're trying to throw energy into new shoots and the light intensity / fertilizer is too weak. Of course, they'll lose old canes as they age, just as other orchids will lose old pseudobulbs. But it shouldn't be happening all at once.

If they seem like they're on their way out anyways, unpot them and check out the roots. You won't hurt anything at this point. If they're in bad shape and the medium is soggy--well, you know the drill!!

[OrchidTraci]

Originally posted by lja
OrchidTraci! I was starting to miss you!

Congrats on the Renanthera! That's great! About the misbehaving Dendrobiums: they need a LOT more light and fertilizer than people usually give them. They do NOT make good indoor houseplants in a window or something. They need Cattleya intensity light. Lots of it.

Since it's winter and the sun is not as strong as in the summer, give them some direct sun early in the morning and late in the day. They'll lose leaves and canes when they're trying to throw energy into new shoots and the light intensity / fertilizer is too weak. Of course, they'll lose old canes as they age, just as other orchids will lose old pseudobulbs. But it shouldn't be happening all at once.

If they seem like they're on their way out anyways, unpot them and check out the roots. You won't hurt anything at this point. If they're in bad shape and the medium is soggy--well, you know the drill!!

I moved and didn't have a computer so I couldn't log in. I was going through withdrawls let nme tell you lol! My Chachee seems to have slowed down in growing. It is the most peculiar thing; at the same time the shoot (or what I thought was a shoot) stopped growing, new leaves appeared. Hmmm, strange, or is it?

[LJA]

Dang.... If I had to go a long time without a computer, I think I would just--shrivel up.

That's really weird about your Dendrobiums: Renantheras need a lot more light than they do, so if your Monachica is doing well (which it sounds like it is) the Dendrobiums should be fine. They don't need anything more special than Chachee does. You wouldn't happen to have a pic of it handy you could upload, would you? When you said "shoot" earlier I thought you meant flower spike but you meant new growth? They need to be grown under Vanda conditions: lots of light, even some direct sun in the early mornings and late afternoons. Is yours young still? Has it bloomed yet? They'll go through a "rest period" after blooming where you should slow down on the fertilizer until new growth starts to show.

If you can take a pic of it, I'd love to see it....

[OrchidTraci]

I can't take a picture of it yet, I *just* looked up a new printer that can use the digi cartridge right in it, so I have to play around with it and figure it out. I origionally thought that the 'shoot' on Chachee was going to be flowers, but it looks to me like a root that grew out of a leaf axel. It is still young, it hasn't flowered yet. When I purchased it , it was 'near blooming size' so that could be anywhere from 6 months to 2 years. Goodness I hope it isn't the latter lol, I want to see my beatiful orchid! That is one thing that Orchids are teaching me: patience. I'm very lucky though, I have perfect growing conditions for Chachee. I live with a treeless yard that pretty much gets full sun in my window.

[LJA]

I'll bet that now, since you've moved, Dendrobiums will do a lot better for you, given all the light you're getting. You should try some again! Are you still in NY state? Some early morning and late afternoon sun this time of year shouldn't hurt them a bit either. We quit selling them here because they grow so darned tall and take up so much room. Still have a few left that we're keeping just for ourselves, but might divide them here shortly and sell the divisions for cheap. They're awful pretty but, folks around here just don't get enough light to rebloom them again...

Yep, "Near blooming size" is one of those horrible terms that can mean absolutely anything: I hope it doesn't mean two years for Chachee either! No rush or anything on the pic; I was just curious...

So what kinds of orchids do you have now? Is your collection starting to get huge? (I'm meandering off topic... Brutal's going to demand the rest of this gets posted in his "Not Necessarily" section...

[OrchidTraci]

Originally posted by lja
I'll bet that now, since you've moved, Dendrobiums will do a lot better for you, given all the light you're getting. You should try some again! Are you still in NY state? Some early morning and late afternoon sun this time of year shouldn't hurt them a bit either. We quit selling them here because they grow so darned tall and take up so much room. Still have a few left that we're keeping just for ourselves, but might divide them here shortly and sell the divisions for cheap. They're awful pretty but, folks around here just don't get enough light to rebloom them again...

Yep, "Near blooming size" is one of those horrible terms that can mean absolutely anything: I hope it doesn't mean two years for Chachee either! No rush or anything on the pic; I was just curious...

So what kinds of orchids do you have now? Is your collection starting to get huge? (I'm meandering off topic... Brutal's going to demand the rest of this gets posted in his "Not Necessarily" section...

I'm sure den's would do wonderfully at my new home now, I'm just so scared of them now lol! I still live in New York State. The days lately have been so overcast that I had to go out a buy a grow lamp. I'm glad I did, I've seen so much improvment in my orchids in the past two weeks. Now I can give them light longer too. Seriously, if anyone told me what a huge difference having extra lighting, I would have been on it a long time ago. I guess that is the learning process of being a newer orchid grower. My orchid collection is still quite small. I lost a couple of my phal's during my move, it was so heartbreaking. My favorite phal was one of them. Right now I have one phal that had bloomed 2 times since I purchased it for a meager $5.00 6 months ago, Chachee, a miltoniopsis that I got last week, my Brassia , and 2 oncidiums that were one before I divided them. I'm actually surprised that the division has been doing to well. I know there are a couple I'm forgetting. My boyfriend bought me an orchid that looked like my favorite one that died, but when I went to repot it, there were no roots. And for what he paid for it, there should have been at least 2 roots lol! So I took that back. I'm now waiting patiently for the new shipment to come in on the 28th. The guy at Lowes was really nice in telling me I should really wait for the 'spectacular' orchids to come in. I guess he is getting in some lady slippers and other ones that are untypical from the old Lowes standbys. I'm going to have to build a small greenhouse soon though. My orchids are taking up my kitcen quickly.

[LJA]

That's a nice and varied home collection! Sorry about the ones you lost... When we moved here 8 years ago there was no greenhouse and we had plants stuffed in every windowsill imaginable. For the things we absolutely couldn't fit, we rigged up a temporary lean-to kind of thing outside and wrapped it with plastic, put in one of those electric oil-filled heater things and hoped for the best. Then a really cold night came and the heater wasn't up for it: we lost probably 70 really nice plants. It was awful. So I know the sinking feeling you get when you lose some from moving.....

Actually, Lowe's (and some of the other chain stores) can occasionally get in some really nice orchid plants besides the standbys for a pretty decent price. I saw some nice dendros at a Lowes in Texas last year, and the tags actually had the plant names on them instead of the "Dendrobium Assorted" you usually see. The key to buying from those guys is to get the plants right when the shipment comes in, and to repot them immediately in a medium you're used to and that suits your growing conditions. Otherwise, if the plants stay at the store for any length of time, they end up going downhill pretty quickly since the folks there don't seem to really know how to take care of them; they do what they can and hope for the best.

Some people have even negotiated the price way down on plants that looked obviously sick; they got a great deal but, buying plants that are on the downhill slide is sure not something I'd recommend, especially for a novice grower. I'm glad you took that rootless one back.

Oh yeah: about growing the plants in your kitchen: make sure you're not growing them near any fruit that happens to be sitting out. Ripening fruit gives off ethylene gas that will totally blast any buds your plants might be developing... And for that matter, for the same reason, if you have a gas stove with pilot lights, make sure they don't go out!

[OrchidTraci]

My fruit is way at the opposite end of the kitchen and we do not have a gas range so I'm pretty safe in that aspect. I'm counting down the days till the shipment comes in; I'm itching for a new orchid .

[LJA]

Ok, I just *had* to put in the toothy grin smiley. I am absolutely determined that, one of these days, you're going to buy an orchid from us. Determined!! LOL!