The Orchid Garden

help for a new orchid grower

Question:

I have recently bought an orchid wanting to start gardening as a hobby. I had hoped to by more. I intentionally bought a hardy hybrid I forget the name one of the Dendrobium derivatives. I have moved it all around from right in a window sill to a few feet away to against the far wall. I have put it on a bed of watered pebbels and watered the plant  twice a week and I mist them every morning. It is doing ok, in as much as it is not dead yet, but it keeps dropping leaves and blooms. The leaves concern me far more than the blooms but both appear to be dried out. When I bought it I selected it because it had new buds all around. They were the first to go. What am I doing wrong?

Response:

I have a greenhouse with heater, humidifier, recirculation fan and lights.  What else do I need before I start?  I would like to cultivate plants needing no more than a minmum night temperature of 15 degrees Celsius. What plants should I start with?  Where can I get them in UK?  I don’t mind importing them from elsewhere but I am concerned how they will fare on the journey.

Response:

I have a greenhouse with heater, humidifier, recirculation fan and lights. What else do I need before I start?  I would like to cultivate plants needing no more than a minmum night temperature of 15 degrees Celsius. What plants should I start with?  Where can I get them in UK?  I don’t mind importing them from elsewhere but I am concerned how they will fare on the journey.

        A safe start would be standard cymbidiums, available pretty much everywhere.  You might not even need to turn on the heater, they can take quite a bit of cool weather.  Supposedly fairly easy to grow, I don’t have the right kind of space for them so I can’t grow them, but that doesn’t mean anything. Rob  Rob’s rules to live by:                        | Send me seeds!   (1) There is always room for one more orchid. |   (2) There is no rule 2.                       | Future starving PhD.    (2a) When one has insufficient credit to buy |    Rob has a homepage (ooh, high tech!):  http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~rhalgren

Response:

I have a greenhouse with heater, humidifier, recirculation fan and lights.  What else do I need before I start?  I would like to cultivate plants needing no more than a minmum night temperature of 15 degrees Celsius. What plants should I start with?  Where can I get them in UK?  I don’t mind importing them from elsewhere but I am concerned how they will fare on the journey.

Depending on where you live, you could try Orchid Sundries, Newgate Farm, Scotchey Lane, Stour Provost, Dorset, SP8 5LT     Telephone East Stour 838638. —                              Locality: Weymouth, Dorset

Response:

I have recently bought an orchid … one of the Dendrobium derivatives. I have moved it all around from right in a window sill to a few feet away to against the far wall …. it keeps dropping leaves and blooms. What am I doing wrong?

Brett: Dendrobiums love sun. You need to give this plant more light. Also, how often are you watering it? If not often enough, it’s dehydrated and therefore dropping leaves. If too often, the roots may be rotted and the plant is rootless, now dehydrated and therefore dropping leaves. You need to pull the plant out of the pot and take a look at the roots. Are they dry and white? (probably salvageable) or brown/black and wet? (probably rotted – cut them off, dust with fungicide and lay the plant horizontally on top of the media, keep the media moist but not wet and wait for new roots to appear – this will take up to several months – keep the plant out of direct sunlight during this period). It’s hard to tell how often you should water a dendrobium – there are many different groups, each with its own culture requirements. But they are very forgiving of out mistakes, so you can most likely save yours. If you don’t have a lot of sun, however, you’d do better other orchid genera. Good luck,    - Magda Plewinska      Miami, FL / Zone 10

Response:

Filed under: Dendrobium Orchid

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