What to do?

[Olive Cook]

My newest Den, the purple one; I've mentioned in another post hat the blooming portion was actually a keiki. The trouble is, the thing is growing strait up from the old pbulb, and the only visible root is growing down into the old bulb.
The old bulb is yellow at the bottom near the medium, so it will need to go soon. I've been spraying the bottom of the keiki with root hormone, hoping to get more roots so I can pot up the keiki.
I've never seen one grow like this, so any advice would be great!
Thanks!

[LouisW]

You might wrap a little sphag around the would-be root base area. Perhaps a little moisture will encourage the plantlet to get some roots out quicker. I think people do this with Phal keikis sometimes.

[kmarch]

What to do indeed....hmmmm. I think if the plant were mine I'd keep doing what you're doing and give it more time. I suspect the keiki is drawing nutrients and water from the cane its growing off of and that until its food/water supply runs out it doesn't have much of a need to grow its own roots. I suspect this will change as the stores of the mother cane are depleted. I seem to recall reading a threas here somewhere in which someone wrapped a bit of sphagnum moss around the base and roots of a keiki to encourage root growth so they could remove it. Unfortunately I don't remember the outcome. Hopefully another member will come along who does. It might give you an option other than just waiting.

[Olive Cook]

I'm not going to do anything major for the time being, I'm going to wait for the blooms to fall. Moss makes me nervous, EVERY time I do anything with moss I get mould. SO, if I can avoid moss that would be best for me; I'm just not sure what else to do other than root hormone...

[11Orchid126]

April is the start of the main growing season for dendrobiums. That is the time the plant wants lots of water and fertilizer. You may see some movement then.

[Olive Cook]

I've not heard that before, are you sure this is true of Phal type Dens?? It still makes me dizzy to think of how large the Dendrobium family is, but I know that they all take different culture.
I'll keep my eye on it though, thank you 11Orchid126