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bpeterson1226

Dendrobium

9 years ago

Hey guys. I just bought this Dendrobium about 2 weeks ago. It's starting to look like it is declining in health already. Any suggestions? I live in Savannah GA. It's about 85° during the day and high humidity still. It's facing SE 125°.

Comments (11)

  • 9 years ago

    Get a 4 or 5 inch pot. Dens like under potting. It needs to be locked in with a clip. They want to be firm in the pot. Get rid of the moss. It holds too much water. Orchids like to get wet but must dry out. A plastic pot if you do not want to water too often with fir bark mix. I water a lot so i use clay pots and lava rock. I can water more that way. The moss will drown your orchid...

  • 9 years ago

    I do not understand that the moss is not good for orchids; I have many phals and they were well in moss, I changed them to a mixture of bark and began to lose roots, due to low humidity. I think that the substrate has to be done according to where they are grown.

  • 9 years ago

    I agree with Harvey that a hard cane dendrobium will not like being in moss. The way the damaged leaves are in the same area makes me think there was some physical damage done before you bought it. Also the way the flowers are facing up looks like the plant was laying on its side or was wrapped and only getting light from the top. Another thing to consider is if the place you bought it had it in a low light area, it might need time to adjust to its new home.

    Maritza,

    It does depend on the orchid and where you are growing it but, Savannah tends to be humid so moss will not dry as fast as if it were in Arizona. Dendrobiums will also want to be a bit drier than phal so I think something very open and coarse would be the way to go. Roots will also adapt to the environment that they develop in so it is not uncommon to loose roots when you change media, which is why it is suggested to re pot just before new growth starts. This way as the old roots die they are replaced with new roots adapted to the new media.

  • 9 years ago

    Then I did wrong when changing the moss again? I live in Florida, my orchids are inside the house and relative humidity did not reach 40%. In the substrate bark, they were stagnant and the roots of center, dry

  • 9 years ago

    Orchids are different depending where they originate. Moss is fine in certain climates (dry), but in hot humid environments it can be a death sentence for certain species. Dendrobiums like their roots to dry out. In Georgia or Florida, its just too humid and the moss stays too wet.

    I live in Florida and grow my dends in pots or baskets with some large bark or rock. I am not a good waterer so I always use some bark to hold some moisture. If you water frequently, baskets with rock work best.

    My Phals grow in smaller bark with some sphag mixed in, the mix is loose. I find in Florida with all the humidity and summer rains, they prefer to send their roots out in the air. I may repot them all into baskets this Spring.

    You can leave the Dend for now, just let the moss dry out before watering again. Repot in the Spring.

    Jane

  • 9 years ago

    That is, a mixture of bark with moss perhaps would do better, I have almost no moisture inside my house and bark alone did not work me. The dends I put them in the yard and still ugly, they are in bark. These are my phals when they were in moss, then I put them in bark and lost 4


  • 9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You have got a very good rhythm with your phals. Don't change a thing. But dendrobiums get different treatment. You need to find a new rhythm for your dendrobium...

    Phals are planted in the medium and this type of den is planted on the medium. I'm growing them in lava rock and clay pots. But there are many successfully growing in different combinations. Because I get good draining and they dry out quick I can water every day. My preference...

  • 9 years ago

    They look healthy. I'll put mine in that substrate.

  • 9 years ago

    This is not meant to be critical but I wonder if you bloomed those Phals yourself or they were Phals you bought already in bloom?

    The reason I am asking is that it appears to me that the Phals on the cabinet do not appear to getting enough light. That alone could cause a decline in the plants.

    Phals are a lower light orchid but require enough light so their leaves are a lighter green than your photo depicts.

    Dendrobiums are a higher light orchid. They need stronger light to remain healthy.

    I would never grow Dendrobiums in pure moss. It retains too much water. The roots will die off if not enough light and kept too wet.

    Jane

  • 9 years ago

    This room has enough light, afternoon comes the sun, this south-facing. My orchids are 2 and 3 years old and some new. They did it well in moss but had some bad roots and change to bark, there stagnated, just some that leave in moss have new spikes, so I decided to put them on moss again, and found many dried roots in the bark sustrate. My relative humidity is very low inside the room. My dends are out, in the garden.

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