Thanks Kauaiguy, This is a big plant which will be growing on my screened patio. How can I anchor it so it won't blow over? Kauai?..I used to live in Waimea.

When you repot allow a small amount to grow because dens don't like to be over potted. The stem is not a keiki. It is on the rhizome. In repotting it is most important to protect the new white roots. Do not let them brake. I like to pot them high in the pot held by clips firmly.The new growth will come from near the new roots. The back side of that goes against the pot and the new roots are an inch or so away from the other rim. Room to grow. No flopping around. Mostly on the potting medium, not in it. Many do it differently. Never separate a keiki. Leave it attached and included in the new pot. It draws moisture and nutrition from the old cane. http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/4006610/dendrobium-keiki?n=5 is a link to a thread on transplanting keiki's.

Before potting, remove all the dead stuff including the dead roots and old medium. If some of the medium is not accessible do not damage the plant to get it. Use scissors to cut the old brown roots.

It is always better to have someone show you. You may live near a local orchid society. Look up The American Orchid Society on the web and they have a list of affiliated societies around the country...

Thank you Harvey, That is one of the most beautiful orchids I've ever seen! Great of you to respond to a new comer's stupid questions.

Where do you live? And describe where the orchid lives. How much light, water, fertilizer etc Potting can be customized to the situation. I water every day but my plants get a lot of light, warm temps. and they are potted in clay pots with only lava rock.

Thanks for the interest. I live in North Palm Beach. The orchid is on a screened porch open to the north and east with early morning sun possible or in a darker corner behind other plants, so there is a lot of latitude there. After re-potting it in a clay pot I plan to hang it as is your excellent orchid in the picture. About watering I was reading how they need to dry out, so I water when the plant feels light. The new medium can be anything at this point as I have plenty of time to get materials before the flowers fall off. The fertilizer I use on all my plants with each watering is weak solution of Foliage-Pro, 9-3-6. This is an interesting project, being able to customize a reclamation plan for this plant!

If you look at Harvey's Dendrobium, you will notice that he put the pot inside a basket. That is what I would recommend. You could also stick the plant in the pot, inside a larger pot and let it grow.

I do a lot of pot-in-pot planting because it causes less root damage. Dends do not like their roots messed with.

Your plant looks perfect for sitting in a basket or a larger clay pot. I don't bother removing the old potting mix as the live roots are outside the pot.

Jane

Thanks jane_ny, Question: how do water/dry them?

where do you live in 10b?

North Palm Beach, FL. How about you?

Stuart

Jane, Thanks for the tips.

I followed your advice and put the pot into a wooden basket. I anchored it with two zip ties. Inquiring further about watering and fertilizer programs: the water I use on all other plants is distilled from the air conditioner as our city water has fluoride and chlorine. I have been misting the roots daily in the morning without fertilizer for now. Do you think misting is sufficient or does it need full drenching? The fertilizer I use for all other plants is liquid Foliage-Pro 9-3-6 with minor elements. Thanks, Stan

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a better way would have been to break the pot, leave the root ball undisturbed, remove the pieces of pot, place plant inside basket and fill in area with chucks of tree fern. this would have allowed more air to the roots and allow decayed media to wash out slowly. It would also have allowed the growing lead more room near center of basket, whereas it is already at the edge. I have had to do this with several cattleya bowringiana that grew way outside their pots and did very well in baskets....

Thanks Ben, That makes sense. Then, how do you stabilize it in the basket? How do you water yours? Stan

To stabilie use tie wraps (black , uv stabilized, and adjustable), you can daisy chain as many as u need... I used to water in my greenhouse via an overhead misting system on a timer.

Greenhouse was covered and protected from rain, cattleya greenhouse was watered a couple of times per week and vanda greenhouse was watered everyday... twice

15 minutes at 7:00 am and again 15 mnutes about 7:30... watering is a major subject and depends on many other climate variables, temp, humidiity, air flow, amount of sunlight.. etc

I agree with Ben about the new growth, but your plant looks good and can wait until next spring. If you could get a larger basket that would help. You could also soak the clay pot in water for an hour then hit it easily with a hammer to crack it.You might be able to tease roots stuck to the pot off without too much damage.

You have new growth on one side of the plant. It should be given more room as that is the area where your plant will continue to grow. In a year the basket will be too small.

You live in Florida. Can you collect rain water? I live in Sarasota and it pours each afternoon in the summer. I have numerous rain barrels which I use for my orchids.

If you don't have the space for a rain barrel, cut some soda bottles, a few buckets and you should have plenty of water during the rainy season.

Dens, when in active growth love lots of water in a very free draining mix or no mix at all. Fertilize about once a week to encourage that new growth to grow large. It will provide the flowers this winter.

As I said, you can leave it as is, but in the early Spring, move it to a larger basket, fill the empty spaces with some rocks to stabilize the plant until the roots take hold.

The objective right now is to protect those new roots from getting damaged. The less you fool with the plant the better. Take care of the new roots as they need to grow and will stop growing if damaged. New growths and new roots start in the Spring.

Good luck,

Jane