this is a long one

[fzzdk]

about 6 months ago i inherited an orchid from a friend of mine who was keeping it in soaked regular potting soil in a kitchen with no windows.

an entire "shoot" of the plant had rotted, and had to be cut away at the base. also, half of the biggest leaf had turned yellow and had black spots, so i nipped it off. upon repotting, i noticed that the small stem with two leaves on the top is actually a separate plant with a completely separate root system.

a few days after that emergency surgery/repot into orchid bark, the remaining bit of the big plant shot out another stem (you can tell i'm new to this and don't know the terminology, huh?). it's since gotten a lot bigger and produced a lot of roots, that are growing up the main stem. is that normal? same with the little bud looking thing in the last picture on the main stem, is that normal? what is that? also, one of the three leaves on the main stem turned yellow and fell off and the smaller plant hasn't done anything at all. i'm concerned i might be doing something wrong, as i don't even know what type of orchid this is, other than it not being a phal.

help? guidance? id? i don't want to kill it

From what I can tell, your plant looks like a dendrobium. Dendrobiums have rather elongated bulbs which are called canes. You have a keiki, or baby, growing at the base of one of the canes. Sometimes these babies grow at the top of the canes and are removed and planted by themselves, but your keiki is low enough that you can leave it there.

Many dendrobiums are deciduous and lose their leaves, so the loss of leaves may be normal. Your new shoot also is at the base of the cane, and that's good. Dendrobiums like tight pots in order to bloom, so don't be too quick to repot for a long time, and until the roots fill the pot be careful with watering. Also, dendrobiums don't like a lot of nitrogen, so make sure your fertilizer has a low first number. Spring is coming, and the dendrobiums do their best growing during the spring and summer and will need lots of light, water and fertilizer. In your area of the country the plant should do well outside.

[fzzdk]

Originally Posted by orchid126

You have a keiki, or baby, growing at the base of one of the canes. Sometimes these babies grow at the top of the canes and are removed and planted by themselves, but your keiki is low enough that you can leave it there.

i've read previously on here that leaving a keiki connected will effect blooming, is that only the case with keiki near the crown of the plants, or will this one effect blooming as well? also, is there any way i can train it to not grow at a 45 degree angle? i don't want to snap it off or anything.

Originally Posted by orchid126

Dendrobiums like tight pots in order to bloom, so don't be too quick to repot for a long time, and until the roots fill the pot be careful with watering.

i was actually thinking of repotting into a smaller pot, do you think that would be wise? when i repotted it earlier, i just put it back in the old pot. i just bought a den. phal. and it's much much larger and in a pot about half that size, so looking at this one, it looks dwarfed. i think it's in a 6in pot right now.

[mayres]

You are thinking correctly - dends like to be rootbound in small pots. I think I'd be inclined to leave it be for the time being however. The time to repot them is when you see a burst of root activity.

[jerrymeola]

Dens are very tolerant. The plant will flower whether you remove the Keiki or not.

Often the canes grow at angles and to straighten them you need to stake the cane.

You have good root growth so leave it in this pot. It will fill the pot this summer with new roots.

[kmarch]

This is a good example of how tough and "fierce" some orchids can be. In spite of what were dreadful conditions, the plant was fighting for survival and as soon as the conditions improved it started growing like mad. I suspect, with continued proper care, it will recover and after skipping a couple of blooming seasons, will bloom again.

[fzzdk]

thanks for the guidance, everyone. it is much appreciated.

i was wondering if there's any way to tell in what direction a pseudo bulb will grow, as it doesn't have one currently? or if one will even grow this season since it sent out that massive keiki?

[kmarch]

Dear fzzdk,

Personally i think it is difficult to tell where a new cane will start on these types of Dendrobiums, but sometimes you can see a sort of little "eye" at the base of a mature cane. Whever that "eye" is, that's where the next new growth will come from.

Cheers

[fzzdk]

of course as soon as people start telling me it looks like it's doing well, my orchid starts dropping leaves.

it started on friday when one of the 3 leaves on the smaller plant with the separate root system went yellow and wrinkly and fell off without much coaxing (pictures 1 and 2). when taking pictures i noticed a couple of black dots on the other large leaf (picture 3) which look like the ones on the first leaf (picture 2). i came in today to another yellow leaf (picture 4 and 5), although it's not wrinkly and still feels quite firm. the cane it's on has been slightly yellow for a while, but is really firm, and the smaller cane actually has more roots than the larger one. help?

The canes are the pseudobulbs, so anywhere you see a new growth, that will hopefully turn into a new cane, or p-bulb.

[fzzdk]

well this isn't good... i checked on the roots of the plant with the yellowing leaves and they've mostly rotted away. there are only 2-3 good roots on each plant, and both of them had started new psuedobulb growth, but i had potted the plant too deeply and they rotted. argh. and i thought i was doing decently :\

i cut off the rotted stuff and moved it up higher in the pot. i also covered the pot in a plastic bag to keep the humidity up. is this a good idea? anything else i can do?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Spring is coming, and with it, new growth and very shortly there after will come new roots, and you plant will be in good shape again. So, keep it mostly on the dry side until you see new growth.