beginning needs help- cut back after flowers

[Gwenn]

Hi- Good to meet you all. I've got a quick question as flowering has ended on a couple of my plants.

I've been told about (and have now tried) cutting back my Phalaenopsis Orchid after flowers are all gone. Cut back 3 nodes I was told. Fine.

But I cannot find information on how to cut back on what I believe is a Dendorbium. I had a long single spray or bell shaped flowers that grew very long. Now that the blooms are gone, the one stem is turning yellow. As it's not full of nodes as the Phal, do I just cut that stem back all the way down? Do I have to cut central stem with leaves. I'm clueless and I'd like to try to get it to bloom again.

Many thanks. I'll check back for messages Sunday when I get home.

Gwenn - a newbie

[Tess1]

DO NOT cut any leaves off! If it is indeed a dendrobium you can safely cut the empty stem off. However, post a piccie of your plant first and let the forum see what your plant is. Also, could you post where you live please, that helps a lot in giving advice as we all live in different places on this earth of ours.

[kmarch]

Dendrobiums are completely different from Phals and so oyu do not treat them the same. Leave the cane alone. Depending on what kind f Den it is it may or may not loose its leaves. It will eventually start a new growth which will mature and bloom. Old canes may also rebloom though not off the same inflorescence, they'll grow new inflourescences.

[Tess1]

Oops, was that not clear from my post Kmarch? I meant the old flower stem, NOT the cane.

[kmarch]

Tess, your post was clear. Gwenn had asked about cutting the cane with leaves and so I was responding to that.

[Tess1]

[tom499]

If in doubt: DONT cut off anything!





(besides damage caused by illness etc.)

[Gwenn]

Thank you all so much. I had already cut the stem down. It was drying and yellow. The leaves look fine.

I will ask my husband to download a photo.

Very kind of all of you to help a REAL newbie. I always have orchids of some kind in the house and finally decided to give this a try. I have very little space but I do have a nice bay window in my kitchen where's there's indirect light most of the time. And it gets warmer there for the cooking. And I've found a couple of other spots as well.Experimenting. I have had success in keeping a phal blooming for well past six months. It just kept going and looked like "lei" it was so long. So I'm trying.

Thanks again.

Gwenn

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Gwenn

Very kind of all of you to help a REAL newbie. I always have orchids of some kind in the house and finally decided to give this a try.

I'm reasonably sure I can speak for our forum members when I say it is a pleasure to help out newbies with their questions. We all get so much enjoyment from growing our orchids. If we can help someone elase get that same enjoyment, all the better!