Dend Yellow Leaves

[fred]

Steve S..... posted 24.10.07 Location OHIO

I purchased a Dendromium Phal in March and it has been doing fine until now. I switched to worm tea earlier this summer for all of my orchids alternating with watering . I have had it in a west window letting it have all the sun possible (no southern exposure available). About a month ago it started new spikes and shortly thereafter some of the leaves started yellowing and then died off. I gave it worm tea 2 weeks in a row and it seemed to start coming around. I then gave it worm tea the next week (third week) and the leaves started yellowing again 2 days later so I rinsed it thouroughly with water. One spike has the start of some blooms which had stopped developing but now seem to be coming around. Since the sun is waining here in Oh I start using a plant lamp 120 watts part of the day. It seems that maybe it doesn't need as much fertilizer when blooming, is this a correct assumption? Or could it be the amount of sun it is getting this time of year? After I water or worm tea I usually try to whick as much moisture from the pot from the holes in the bottom as I can.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tobi
Senior Member
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 873


Hi Steve,
I think you have a Phalaenopsis type Dendrobium, meaning it doesn't need
the winter rest that the nobile type do. It seems like you're doing everything
right with it's culture. I do cut back on the fertilizing to about once every 3 weeks at this time of the year and go to every 4 weeks in about another
month. When you say the leaves are yellowing, are you referring to the
leaves on the older canes or the new ones. If it's on the older canes, it's
usually a natural occurance for this to happen. I also have been using worm
tea now for about 3 months and continue to spray every other week.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

I would stop all fertilizer if the plant is not growing, or at least any containing nitrogen. This could affect flowering.

[11Orchid126]

The canes on some dendrobiums are deciduous, and this is the time of year that they fall, like the autumn leaves. They can fool us because they may not fall each year, but some can wait a year or two before they decide to drop their leaves. It can be a scary occurance.

[jerrymeola]

You Den is not deciduous but even though it is not about to lose all its leaves it is probably fine.

Dens lose a lot of leaves on all types. With DenPhals I keep telling myself the leaves only live 1-2 years (not completely true but works for me as a generalization).

Especially with young hybrids from Hawaii and Florida, leaves yellowing and with black spots are common the first couple of years.

[Steve S]

Thanks for all of the great info. I'm not the greatest with computers, I tried to reply last week and pushed the wrong key or something and lost it. You pretty much hit a bullseye with your info. Tobi, you said you spray with worm tea, do you also fertilize with it as you would with any other fertilizer.

Thanks agian
steve

[Tobi]

Steve,
I just use the worm tea as a supplement to the fertilizer. Some people here
use it in place of a fertilizer. There have been different views on this. As I
stated above, I've been spraying with worm tea about every other week and
fertilizing the Phal. type Dens. every 4-5 weeks if they are not growing new
canes or producing a flower spike, in which case I fertilize every other week
opposite the worm tea spraying.