Pine bark

[maninair]

Hi friends

I have a dendrobium orchid which I bought bare root. It flowered after one month. Now it is has not flowered even after 1 1/2 year. One cane has become leafless but there is no sign of flower buds coming. There are three four new growth from the base. The roots have become browni. One new root can be seen. It is growing in a spagnum moss and the container is made of plastic. I am thinking of transplanting it to a earthen pot with pine bark which I recently bought from a nursery. What is your suggestion. Is pine bark okay for dendrobium? Please help me.

Mani

[digitalgate]

i like pine bark. but i think your plant need more light than what you are providing it now.

[E-Jag]

Maninair, might want to check its roots - sphag is bad to rot them unless you are experienced with it. I have 5 dens, all in bark, never a problem - at least not with the bark. LOTS of light/water during the blooming/growing season.

E-Jag

[tizzycat]

I have a few dens in bark and they're all doing fine.

[katrina]

I'm new to Dens but mine are in bark/charcoal mix ...and in what seems like really, really small pots for the top growth. I was told it's best to have them in smaller pots because they like to dry out a bit in between watering. And I have them sitting w/my catts. All but one is looking really good and putting out lots of new growth/roots. The one is putting out keikis.

[rodbender]

Bark is way better than spag IMO as it will dry faster and be less of a problem with rot. Keep it in as small a pot as possible and give it lots of light and it should do good for you.

[fred]

just be careful if you do re-pot into bark as sphagnum moss is moist you need to keep the bark slightly moist to start with then slowly reduce the watering
the shock from being re-potted into bark may harm your Den
I agree with E-Jag Quote} sphag is bad to rot them unless you are experienced with it.

please keep us posted

[kmarch]

What kinf od Dendrobium is it?

[Anton]

ALL my orchids are in pine bark, and ALL my pots have a bamboo skewer in them to test the moisture content. With this method you can't go wrong.

As Fred said make sure, after repotting into the bark that you soak the pot for about half an hour to really moisten the bark. This will reduce the shock of going to a less moist mixture. Let the pot pot stand for a couple of days to get rid of the excess moisture. This gives the plant a chance to reaclimatise.

THEN JUST SPRAY IT with water morning and night to keep the bark moist.

The skewers will dictate how much moisture the mix needs.

You can find the skewer method as a sticky in the Cultivation section of the forum.

Keep us informed.

[tizzycat]

All my orchids (bar two I'm trying in S/H) are in bark and I also have a skewer in every pot. The only difference between Anton's culture and my own is that i don't spray morning and evening as we don't get the same high temps here in the UK, and the bark dries out more slowly.