HELP...What Do I Do w/this Disaster!

[helwolfe]

Hope you can see, but plant is overgrown, has bare canes, has new stalks and has bloomed on a bent very long cane. Can I repot, and if so what do I pot? Some of these canes are very long and very bare. Do I discard these and try for new sprouts? I just don't know what to do when a plant gets so long and out of control!

[jerrymeola]

Your pot is still large for the this size Dendrobium. I would leave it in the same pot.

By the growth pattern it looks like two plants in the same pot. This is not important.

Unless the medium is going bad it is best to leave everything as it is.

There is no need to cut bare canes as they are beneficial to the plant supplying food and water to the plant if needed. This is not an exceptional amount of bare canes for a Dendrobium.

The bent canes can be straightened and staked. Take your time. You do not need to straighten it all in one shot. Put a stake in the pot and bend the cane until the resistance increases and tie it off at this point. In a couple of days the cane will have grown to accept this bend as normal. Now bend it some more. Continue until you can tie the cane completely from the base to the top of the stake. You will probably need to tie it in about 4 places. Dendrobium quickly form themselves to the new shape.

[kid a]

I think it looks fine, and those canes can be straightened so that is good news! Sometimes also an old cane can throw a keiki.

[helwolfe]

Thanks Kortney and Jerry for your help. Sorry for my newbie ignorance, but what is a keiki? The medium is dark and looks a bit green (algae?). It has been very wet here in Fla. So I thought might split these 2 plants, make them more upright, then bend them like you said, Jerry. Is there a downside to repotting? I would imagine after repotting it is harder to bend the canes as there is not rooting yet to resist against.

[jay]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Keiki translates to baby. Dendrobium orchids will sometimes develop a keiki from a cane.

When the roots get to be about 2-3 inches long you can remove it from the old cane and pot it up by itself.

[kid a]

I would wait to repot and keep them together, It will be all the more spectacular if they both bloom at the same time while in the same pot. I think it would make straitening the canes a bit more difficult but I have never so tried so I could be wrong. I think it looks cool with them both in the same pot, but don't let me peer pressure you, it's up to you. I was a newbie once, I still consider myself one lol! Its all part of the learning process and you have to start somewhere so I say ask as many questions as you want!