Confused About Winter Care

[butt0n]

Hi Everyone,
Being somewhat new to caring for orchids, I was looking around to see what the proper winter care was for the different types of orchids I have. Currently I have 3 cattleyas, 1 paph, 1 phal, and 1 nobile dendrobium. I recently read that I'm supposed to let the dendrobium rest...alas, I haven't. I've been watering it about every 7-10 days as with the others. Funny thing is, they're all growing new shoots/leaves and are getting bigger. I know that they probably don't have great lighting at this time. They are in a south-west facing window and get some light, but probably not enough. I'm working on getting a grow lamp soon. Any suggestions? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

If the nobile is starting a new growth from the bottom of the plant, it is a little late for resting; next year. That new growth needs water, so don't let the Den dry out. If all the new growths are on the sides of the cane (keikis) instead of, or in addition to, the one at the bottom, these are your flowers gone south because of keeping the plant too wet and too warm. Remove the keikis, if you have them, when they have a few inches worth of roots, or if they are still very small, remove them and toss them, so that the plant can concentrate its energy on the basal growth.

[butt0n]

Thanks for the info! My dendrobium doesn't have any keikis, but one of the canes continues to grow taller, just not as quickly. I have one more mature cane which is about 3" tall, but I haven't seen much come of that.

As for the others, should I keep regularly watering the cattleyas, paph, and phal too? They all have new leaves and shoots; a lot more than the dendrobium has. And should I keep fertilizing them as well?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Sounds like all your plants should be watered regularly, the Catt with a wet/dry cycle, and the others should not dry out completely. Just so long as the Den is growing, it is not dormant, and should have regular watering. When it finally stops growing, the leaves at the top of the previously growing cane will unfold and you will not see any new folded leaf in the center that has yet to fully emerge and open. You can expect that the last leaf out will be smaller than the rest. When the last leaf matures until the new growth starts at the bottom, you want a very long wet/dry-dry cycle. It is possible that you plant has been bred with some species that does not go dormant, so play it by the signs of growth.

[butt0n]

Thanks Cynthia for all of your help. I just thought I'd post some pictures of my dendrobium since this is the one that challenges me the most. The little cane has pretty much not grown noticeably since I got it last May. However, the cane with all the leaves use to be about 3" when I first got it. The older cane had flowers and a few more leaves; now it only has 2.

[jerrymeola]

Your Den Comet King 'Akatsuka' is a Yamamoto nobile and can take much more water than you might think. I have several hundred this season and they get watered every day. A dry spell is not really important, but no fertilizer after August or they will not flower. Yours does not show excessive Keiki growth so the fertilizer was OK.

The growth pattern on your is normal. The plants flower on the old bare cane and have simutaneous new growth. All mine have new growth getting larger every day.

All mine are coming into bud just now. Akatsuka are slower and there is still time to flower yours. It does need cool nights and as much sun as you can give it. They do fine down to 32 degrees and sun to 10,000 foot candles (more than Vanda, but they also flower in half shade.)

[butt0n]

Wow! Thanks for the information! What do you suggest I do to get this den flowering? On a side note, do you think it should be repotted? I have a couple others that need it badly, but I don't know about this one. Again, thanks for all of the great help.

[ewbie]

hi cynthia! this is a big help to me. i was just wondering that dends should be on winter rest but my plant is doing what button's does. you just answered my question. you're amazing!

button: thanks for asking. am just as confuse as you are.

thanks

[butt0n]

I'm just curious to see what else I have to do to get it to start blooming again. Do I fertilize at this point?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Still learning about the nobiles myself. But I think fertilizer is OK IF the plant is growing. However, I see a fern in the pot in the picture. In my opinion that is a big mistake letting it grow there. Ferns have the toughest wiry roots of any plant I have ever grown. When it comes time to repot, you will be unable to remove the old bark from the orchids roots because of the entertwined fern roots. Removal of the mix will therefore entail massive distruction of the orchid's roots. Best at this point to just pull what you can of the fern from the pot, for sure getting the base of the fern. Any roots down in the pot can be delt with at repotting time, but you have to stop any further growth of those roots now.

[butt0n]

Wow...didn't know the fern was going to be such a problem. It will be out by tomorrow morning! As for the fertilizer, what should I use? A growth formula (30-10-10) or a bloom formula (6-30-30) or something else?

Dens don't like a lot of nitrogen, so the 30-10-10 will not be suitable. The bloom formula 6-30-30 would be better, year round. Your den is a Yamamoto type, and they don't need the severe drying out like the regular nobiles do. I stop fertilizing mine at the end of August to allow the canes to mature. In November I start to dry it out by giving it less and less water. Then I leave it go completely dry until Christmas, when I resume watering again. However, I don't drown the plant, I give it what I call "baby sips". The leaves are deciduous, but they don't drop every year, perhaps every other year. Mine just finished blooming.