Dendrobium Dilemma

[junieg2]

I recently bought a Den. Dream "Ace", nicely potted (I gather) in a 3" pot. I don't know what the growing medium is as I can't see it. My den. has approx. 24 canes; many with flowers. Canes have to be about 18" tall and there are some new ones growing. Pot is in a 5" square wooden basket. There are many roots growing out that look to be in good shape. My problem is that many of the leaves are turning yellow. Could my den be going through "culture" shock from moving from grower in Hawaii to cold and rainy NYC and then to my "not so sunny lately" digs in NE Penn.? Should I start worrying now, or will me Den. adjust to it's new digs and be happy here? Please help me

[pikespeak62]

It's a nobile type Den.
It's normal for them to lose leaves

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

OK, did a search, and this is a nobile type. Nobiles tend to be deciduous. Well, most Dendrobiums are deciduous to some degree or another any way. What this means is that they only hold there leaves for 1, 2 or 3 years depending on the Dendrobium, with the nobiles holding them the shorter length. So, I don't think you have a problem. Look at the pattern near the base of the plant. You should be able to tell the age of each cane by its position in the chain of growths. Each cane grew out of a previous cane, so look for the final and most recent cane in the chain. Then count back wards adding a year to each can back. Are the canes that are loosing leaves the older canes? If all are loosing leaves, were there canes that had no leaves when the plant was purchased? Some time the leaves on a nobile will hold their leaves only one year, normal, and now is probably the time to lose them if they havn't lost them in winter. And some times they will hold their leaves 2 years, so, in that case, expect the plant to lose half its leaves. Which scenario happens will depend on genetics, and may be even more on culture. Watering the plants enough to keep the leaves an extra year, unfortunately, puts the grower in a position to either over water and kill the plant, or to water so much that the plant will not bloom, but produces a ton of kiekis (baby plants) where flowers should.

What should be happening soon, if not already, is that the plant should be starting new growths at the base of the plant to replace the leaf area due to losses from all these dropping leaves. If you loose leaves on these new canes, or the new canes dry up, then we need to talk about problems. Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

[jerrymeola]

Well you hit one of my favorite dendrobiums. I sold over 50 - 6 inch baskets this year with as many as 1000 flower buds. 2-300 flowers is normal. I have 6 inch keikis with a dozen flowers.

It is a nobile dendrobium but an unusual hybrid. Like all nobiles it losses a lot of leaves. I would lose 8-10 leaves a day per plant just before budding. The flowers bud on leafless canes much more than canes with leaves. At the Tampa Bay orchid show I was pulling off 60-80 leaves a day on the 20 plants I had for sale.

Now for the unusual features. Unlike normal nobiles that bloom only once a year in the spring, Den. Dream blooms twice a year.

Normally I recommend with nobiles to stop fertilizing after September and be sure they get one month of night temperatures under 55 or they will not bloom. Too much nitrogen fertilizer is the surest way to harm nobiles and prevent flowering. With Dream it is not necessary to stop fertilizing nor is a cold rest necessary. It is the only nobile that I know of that grows this way.

Even though the leaves on all nobiles look thin and delicate they take full sun. I have one Dream growing in my south pasture in 10000 foot candles of 92 degree sun. I have had one there since Feburary as a test and no sign of damage. Koichi, the manager at Yamamoto dendrobiums, tells me that he grows all his nobiles (Yamamoto Dendrobiums is the best grower of Nobiles) in full Hawaiin sun year round. He was not too concerned about reducing water but warned nitrogen buildup is almost always the cause of poorly developing Nobiles.

He also mentioned that the temperature range for nobiles is 30-100 degrees. This matches my experience.

Enjoy the flowers and whatever you do never cut off leafless canes they produce the most flowers.

I will be placing a number of photos of nobiles on the gallery soon, both this one and a variety of Yamamoto's.

[junieg2]

Wow, what great info! I'm much more pleased tonight after reading your posts. I think I made a great choice as it seems there isn't much I can do wrong with this one. However I made the choice to buy this one at the NYC Orchid show, from so many beauties, I'm glad I did. It will be lots of fun to watch the show. Thanks. jcg

p.s. I look forward to the pictures!!