New Minis!

[woaini1116]

Hello everyone...I just got two new minis recently. One's a mini Den. and one's a Promenea Meadow Gold. The mini Den. I bought with the flowers on it already and the Promenea was bought without seeing any flowers. They are both on a south facing windowsill. I have a couple of questions:

1. How often do they need to be watered?/How can you tell when to water them?
2. How often/how long will it take for the Promenea to bloom?
3. Can I cut off the brown spike (is that what they're called?) on the mini Den.?

Many thanks!

[arleneg]

Those are cute minis! I'm into minis, too.

Since I don't have experience in growing Promenea, I'll just give a tip on the Den. If the flower spike is dried and brown, cut it off.

Is it a Den. aberrans?

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by woaini1116

I have a couple of questions:
1. How often do they need to be watered?/How can you tell when to water them?

You need to water them as often or as little as necessary to provide what they expect. Frequency of watering depends on many things, the type of mix you're using, how warm it is, how dry (high or low humidity), how much air circulation you have, etc., etc. It's best to look at what the plants want then figure out how to give that rather than say something like "water once a week".

First the Promenea: I found this article on Promenea that seems to give competent cultural advice. They like to be a little moist, never waterlogged and never allowed to dry out. You may find that during warmer, drier times of the year you water more often and during cooler times of the year you water less often.

Now the Den.: What species is it? This will help to give you advice on its watering needs.

Originally Posted by woaini1116

2. How often/how long will it take for the Promenea to bloom?

My understanding is that they can bloom almost any time though I'm not sure about that. Maybe someone who grows a lot of them can give a better answer.

Originally Posted by woaini1116

3. Can I cut off the brown spike (is that what they're called?) on the mini Den.?

Probably if it is dead, brown and dry, but let me double check when you tell what species it is.

[woaini1116]

The mini Den. is a Den. Aberrans. Silly me, I thought the tag didn't say much, but I guess I wasn't paying attention!

How can you tell when the Promenea needs water though? There seems to be bark on top and then some soil underneath. I looked at the mini Den. and I really don't see much soil, but I'm afraid to lift it up and see further down!

[kmarch]

Dendrobium aberrans (notice capitalization, species names are not capitalized) is one of the New Guinea dendrobiums and should be pretty east to care for.

Temperature
Give it steady temps year round, nights around 60 and days up to the low 80s.

Light
Give it high light - a south window if you have one or east window

Water & Humidity
In the wild it gets fairly steady rain year round, so water it evenly all year, possibly slightly drier in winter but never completely dry, always keep it a little moist. It likes high humidity, around 80-85% year round.

Originally Posted by woaini1116

How can you tell when the Promenea needs water though?

Look for the sticky on the skewer method here on this forum. The skewer method is one way of telling how wet the mix is inside the pot.

[woaini1116]

Thanks for the tips! I'll try the skewer method when I get home

[woaini1116]

sooooo....should I cut off the old spike or no?