Den. Back To life

[rmt135]

A few weeks back I went to a nursery to ask for advice regarding my Den. leaves had gone soft & yellowish. The answer the old man gave, “Your Den goanna die.”

I refuse to believe him & continue to look after this orchid. The result is shown in the 1st photo below. Also thanks to those who have contributed in helping to spring this orchid back to life.

BTW my other Den. had also spiked (2nd photo) at the same time as the so called ‘DEAD’ orchid, can’t wait to see them bloom.

[exasperatus2002]

Congratulations!! And people say orchids are difficult.

[digitalgate]

R
solid siah, shade clothe already! that the way to go man. Now you can grow almost
anything in your porch. Including Cattleya. The other flower you have in your gallery is
know as Robert delight.

[evagentry]

crongratulations, I just love a story with a happy ending!

[Joan]

Wow!! Those are really healthy and hardy looking dens.

[flowerchild]

Originally Posted by rmt135

A few weeks back I went to a nursery to ask for advice regarding my Den. leaves had gone soft & yellowish. The answer the old man gave, “Your Den goanna die.”

I refuse to believe him & continue to look after this orchid. The result is shown in the 1st photo below. Also thanks to those who have contributed in helping to spring this orchid back to life.

BTW my other Den. had also spiked (2nd photo) at the same time as the so called ‘DEAD’ orchid, can’t wait to see them bloom.

I have a so called "dead" dendrobium, no leaves, but the canes are green underneath the dry brown stuff. My question to you is what did you do to breath life back into the dendrobium, what location and what type of watering did you provide for it? Thanks Cindy aka flowerchild

[digitalgate]

remember what he did , will not apply to you. You in the north, he is in the equator.

[rmt135]

Dear Flowerchild,

Firstly I do not know if what you are facing is the same as mine. Furthermore my area has lots of sun & rain, no winter, spring or autumn. It simply sun, sun, sun or rain, rain, rain.

My Den. had a few leaves but many were soft, a few wrinkles while others had turned yellow.

The first thing I did was ask, ask, ask. Never shy to ask for help. I ponder for a while what I did that makes the orchid go bad. BINGO – I had left the orchid in the sun far too long.

While the other Dens. were in the shade, this particular orchid was left outside the shade for a few days & I did not realize it even during the watering time. I began watering this orchid with extra rain water. No fertilizer – simply water & a bit of sun. Every day when I came back from work, I will test the root for moist, check the root condition & check on the leaves if it had hardened. Slowly one by one the leaves that survived the ordeal became hard but I lost many leaves & a few canes had gone leafless.

Only when it had shown progress, I started fertilizing it – much less than the normal dose. I fertilized it everyday – very low dose. New leaves began to appear & in fact a new growth just started to appear. Now I am waiting for it to bloom.

This orchid is special for me because it is my wife’s favorite orchid (she bought it) & we love purple.

Digitalgate,

When did you became Yoda???

[digitalgate]

me yoda, spek no English.... Strong in the force ... make orchids grow stronger.
resistant to spider mites, grow on tree, glow in the dark. he he..
chakap boleh!

[Tobi]

Digitalgate and rmt135, you are both a delight to have on the forum. Your international
humor is a joy.

P.S. love the avatar digitalgate!!

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Cindy, be patient, and keep that Den on the dry side. Dens are in dormancy now, but with spring you should see a new growth start, with roots to follow very quickly.

[digitalgate]

Originally Posted by Tobi

Digitalgate and rmt135, you are both a delight to have on the forum. Your international
humor is a joy.

P.S. love the avatar digitalgate!!

(mind control) I will sent you all my orchids... HMMM....Give it all to digitalgate
all 700 of them...

[rmt135]

Cindy,

The place Digitalgate & me grow, the orchids do not know the word rest or dormant. When they want to spike, heck they just spike if taken care properly.
I have seen orchids that have no leaves but flowered beautifully. Maybe yours is this type of orchid.

BTW Hey, What do I see in the sky?? Its raining orchids. What??? Raining orchids.....

Damn it. Digitalgate mind control has gone wrong. Instead of his place, he send them to me. Thanks Yoda.....

[flowerchild]

Originally Posted by Cynthia, Prescott, AZ

Cindy, be patient, and keep that Den on the dry side. Dens are in dormancy now, but with spring you should see a new growth start, with roots to follow very quickly.

Thanks Cynthia, I am determined to make it come back to life!!!!!!! It must grow!!!!! It actually came from my aunt who is getting out of orchids and she was going to throw it down the garbage shoot and I begged her not to cause I said it will grow at my house!!!! I hope I am right! What kind of light should it be in? I also have a den. kingianum and a den adaacum(not sure if the printing on the tag is right) how should i look after these two? Thanks again Cindy aka flowerchild

[rmt135]

Thats the spirit. Never say die. From what I know or what I did, Dens do not like strong bright light. 50% shade will be fine. It likes to be watered when the roots are dry but not totally dry. Do a test on the roots before watering. Water them in the morning so that it will dry by night time (if there is no rain). Maybe in your winter place, you may want to water it lesser.

I like to fertilize them with low dosage every 2 to 3 days instead of 1 week but if the orchids are in dormant stage, maybe no need. I grow orchids differently compared in those country that are seasonal.

[digitalgate]

Originally Posted by Tobi

(mind controlled) Master Yoda need orchids. Huuuuu...He is suffering from
Chronic Orchid Infatuation Disorder. He need lots lots of orchid. I must
sent all my orchids to hime.. yess, master need help....

that the spirt

[Joan]

Knowledgeable people often say dens can seem to look as if they are dead , only to send up new growths months later. It seems to be their nature. So keep on caring for yours.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Cindy, is that Den aduncum? I have it down as cool Dec thru Feb and quite dry, tho perhaps not quite as dry as a nobile. kingianum can be treated the same. Both of these are in my cold frame and getting watered once every 2 or 3 weeks. I redid the cover of my cold frame, and now it is only going down to the mid 40'sF instead of the 38F of last year. Hope they are getting enough chill, as during the better times in winter, the frame is only at 50F.

I normally give my Den hybrids and the kingianum Cattleya light, and a little higher in winter. The aduncum is a little lower in light, 2300 to 3500 footcandles, but right now it is getting high light with everything else in the coldframe.

[evagentry]

sorry to break in like this but digitalgate your posts really made my morning, thanks!