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[parrot parent]

My name is Jen and I'm new to this forum and pretty new to orchids too. I've had good luck with 2 run-of-the-mill phalaenopsis, and I picked up a bunch of dendrobiums over the summer. I've searched the Net for info, and now I'm confused. I think these guys are deciduous, but I'm not sure - no label other than dendrobium. And if they are deciduous, does that mean I stop watering and let them go dormant/rest? When should I expect them to rebloom? Spring? They look pretty healthy now - I just brought them in from outside along with my other plants. Under a sunleaves flrourescent light system - 8 bulbs, 1/2 blue and 1/2 red.

Any advice on what to do with them as we move through fall into winter?

Thanks.

[Vivienne]

Hi Jen and welcome to OrchidGeeks. Lots of wonderful, friendly folks here... all eager to help answer your questions. I will defer to them as I only have a few Dendrobiums and they aren't my happiest plants.
My daughter's best friend is also a Jennifer Johnson

[WIB]

Welcome. I'm pretty new to this forum, but it's already helped a lot. I would bet the dendrobiums aren't decidous, but it's the hardest thing to find good descriptions of them (or at least it has been for me). My impression is that if they have a raceme (a long bloom spike) coming out from the tip of the pseudobulb, which looks a bit like a cane, they aren't deciduous, just unhappy. If flowers form at joints along the cane they are more likely to be deciduous. What I think I am finding is that the non-deciduous dendrobiums really like to be a lot wetter than I thought. I was tending to avoid them, even though I love the ones that aren't magenta, because I was having little success. Lately I've been keeping them in a very open medium (clay balls or coir chips) and letting the pots stand in a little water, almost like a phragmipedium. And I've hit them with their first worm tea in the past couple of weeks. Already they look way happier. You have some great orchid places in Pennsylvania. I'm quite partial to Parkside, where I go whenever I visit my sister-in-law. They have a lot of weekend workships, which I haven't attended, but the staff is informed, helpful, and friendly.

[arleneg]

Hi & welcome to the forum, Jen.

During cool/cold weather, I strongly suggest decreased watering frequency for the Dens. Water doesn't evaporate as fast as when you have warm weather.

When you have a chance, please post pics of your orchids.

[mayres]

Welcome Jennifer - I believe that the orchids that you are labeling deciduous are also commonly called nobile dendrobiums. Go to this link and see what one of our moderators has to say about caring for them - Stop fertilizing Nobile Dendrobiums. I have but one of these and in my first year had only marginal success with reflowering - I had a mix of flowers and keikis (babies). With some advice on this forum I'll see if I get more flowers THIS year? Good luck with yours. Enjoy! mike

[pikevi]

Welcome to the forum , jennifer johnson.

Thanks for the link, mayres.

I have two Dens (maybe nobiles) that have been 'dormant' for months. I have been using the fertilizer on theam at the same frequency as I have been with the the others. It must be mor e than 8 months now , I think. One is showing a bit of activity and if it grows a new shoot I will post a picture here.

May be I will stop fertilizing them.

[parrot parent]

Thanks everybody. This is such a great forum. I've been poking about, and some really great info. I'll post pics of the dens when I can. It's not that they're unhealthy looking, but they aren't blooming. My local orchid shop said "now" is the time for den blooming, and he's pretty sure I won't get any. But I think maybe my poor dens' timing is all screwed up. When I bought them they were blooming and I expect the grower forced them. I bought them at Lowe's and this was in late June/early July. I repotted them last night with a Aussie's Gold - they claim you can never over water this stuff and my orchid guy recommended it. They were in coconut husk or something., and he said that stuff was bad. Roots looked very healthy though, but they were all woven through, and I tried to be careful, but one or two broke off.

Now my phal, which has barely ever stopped blooming except for as month or two, and I've had it for 3 years. So I'm repotting it last night, and oh boy, was it a god thing. Roots were lookng pekid. Not soggy, but instead dried up. I cut a few off, but I couldn't bring myslef to cut them all off. Although almost all were dried up. I repotted it and watered it well and stuck it back in its window. Should I cut more roots off? Should I cut them all off.

Appreciate the help!

[mayres]

jennifer - any roots that are dried up, mushy, stringy, black, etc. are not going to do your plant any good and can be removed. Healthy roots should be thick and plump. If you have very few viable roots left it could require special attention to bring it back to health - let us know - even a pic would help.
BTW - Coconut husk is a GOOD media for many orchids. As with all medias, some are better than others for certain genera and your plants will need to be watered/cared for slightly different depending on which you choose/have.
Good luck - mike

[Mercedes]

Hi and welcome Jen! I knew a Jennifer Johnson when I lived in CT way back when.

When you can, post some pics of your plants!

[dtje2000]

Well, well, well... after having purchased about 6 dendrobiums and still not knowing if they were deciduous or not, today I stumbled across something I had never seen before...it was labeled a den, but it has blossoms growing all over the canes (as opposed to the flower spike shooting out of the top of the cane). And, next thing I know, I am seeing reference to the word "nobile", and now things are falling neatly into place. I'm curious about something, though...with my being in South Florida, all of my various orchids are on a screened-in patio area. Winters, of course, are "dry season", but when folks recommend cutting back on the water in the winter I just cringe to watch these things shrivel. Is the outdoor watering recommendations for we southern-most folks approximately the same as indoor (aka northern growers) winter recommendations?

[articuno75]

Hi Jen! My name is Jenny. It's nice to have another Jen on board. As with the rest of us who are confused with Dendrobiums, Welcome!!!

More than likely you're Dens are the Phalaenopis/Antelope type hybrids that they usually sale at the stores. Even with this information it still gets confusing. (Sorry )

There are a bunch of threads that are on Dens that we are reading, one is at this link. Hope this helps