The Orchid Garden

Newbie needs advice!!

Question:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Darci, I just moved from San Jose and belonged to a wonderful orchid club called Malihini Orchid Society. They meet the 2nd Friday of the month at Hewlett-Packard on Pruneridge Ave. in Cupertino. The next meeting is on Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. This Orchid society is a wealth on good information for the beginner and the expert orchid grower. Some members are professional orchid growers. At the meetings they have guest speakers from all around the world. They sell orchids & supplies, have a raffle and have an extensive library of orchid books. The other members a very friendly and helpful. You can call Warren Leenerts at (408) 252-2269 regarding membership or you can attend the meeting as a guest and sign up then – $10 annual fee per household. Malihini will also be holding their annual show & sale on March 11 & 12 at San Jose Town and Country Village (across from Valley Fair – Stevens Creek & Winchester). Go early and buy beautiful orchids at good prices. They will also have orchid workshops. The gorgeous orchids in the members’ show will inspire you. Good luck and enjoy!. Jane I have been growing orchids for about 18 months. We bought our first one (a phalanopsis) at Home Depot–and several more (both Dendrobium and Phals) either there or at orchid greenhouses. I am very careful to not overwater them–I try to water them every 10-14 days. And they seem to be happier now that I keep them in the window! Well, now my miniature dendrobium orchids (in 2" pots) are finished blooming. I was really impressed to get them to bloom again! And my larger dendrobium (in 4" pot and about 2 ft tall!) hasn’t bloomed since we bought it. Some of the leaves are turning yellow and falling off and overall the plant just looks sad. My first phal hasn’t bloomed anymore because, like an idiot, I cut off the spike. When will it send up another one? Can I persuade it to grow another one? I bought a second phal last February–AND IT IS STILL BLOOMING!!! This one likes me! It looks very strange–very spindley–it keeps sending new shoots off the main spike to continue blooming. I have to keep it up high, since the blooms are now lower than the pot. How do I know when I need to repot them? One of my tiny dendrobiums has produced several "babies" and has a ton of roots that aren’t even in the pot! And my first phal’s roots are taking over the window sill! Overall, I have been very happy with my orchids. But since I don’t know very much about them, I thought I’d write and introduce myself. I think that my old phal and large dendrobium need some help. But I’ll listen to any advice! I moved to San Jose, CA last year and would like to find a local orchid nursery that might be able to help me out. Thanks in advance for any help! Darci Hi Darci,

       Yup! Jane is absolutely correct. Plus, you can take your plants to the meeting for some expert trouble-shooting. Heck, They’ll even repot them for you and teach you how. I absolutely LOVE their show and sale every year, I usually buy a hand full of seedlings for real low prices. The larger plants are generally priced more along the retail line. But you can get some that are truely majestic. And talk about growers…these folks are them!                                    C’mon down ‘n’ say hi sometime,                                             "Connie" Before you buy.

Response:

Darci, I just moved from San Jose and belonged to a wonderful orchid club called Malihini Orchid Society. They meet the 2nd Friday of the month at Hewlett-Packard on Pruneridge Ave. in Cupertino. The next meeting is on Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. This Orchid society is a wealth on good information for the beginner and the expert orchid grower. Some members are professional orchid growers. At the meetings they have guest speakers from all around the world. They sell orchids & supplies, have a raffle and have an extensive library of orchid books. The other members a very friendly and helpful. You can call Warren Leenerts at (408) 252-2269 regarding membership or you can attend the meeting as a guest and sign up then – $10 annual fee per household. Malihini will also be holding their annual show & sale on March 11 & 12 at San Jose Town and Country Village (across from Valley Fair – Stevens Creek & Winchester). Go early and buy beautiful orchids at good prices. They will also have orchid workshops. The gorgeous orchids in the members’ show will inspire you. Good luck and enjoy!. Jane

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have been growing orchids for about 18 months. We bought our first one (a phalanopsis) at Home Depot–and several more (both Dendrobium and Phals) either there or at orchid greenhouses. I am very careful to not overwater them–I try to water them every 10-14 days. And they seem to be happier now that I keep them in the window! Well, now my miniature dendrobium orchids (in 2" pots) are finished blooming. I was really impressed to get them to bloom again! And my larger dendrobium (in 4" pot and about 2 ft tall!) hasn’t bloomed since we bought it. Some of the leaves are turning yellow and falling off and overall the plant just looks sad. My first phal hasn’t bloomed anymore because, like an idiot, I cut off the spike. When will it send up another one? Can I persuade it to grow another one? I bought a second phal last February–AND IT IS STILL BLOOMING!!! This one likes me! It looks very strange–very spindley–it keeps sending new shoots off the main spike to continue blooming. I have to keep it up high, since the blooms are now lower than the pot. How do I know when I need to repot them? One of my tiny dendrobiums has produced several "babies" and has a ton of roots that aren’t even in the pot! And my first phal’s roots are taking over the window sill! Overall, I have been very happy with my orchids. But since I don’t know very much about them, I thought I’d write and introduce myself. I think that my old phal and large dendrobium need some help. But I’ll listen to any advice! I moved to San Jose, CA last year and would like to find a local orchid nursery that might be able to help me out. Thanks in advance for any help! Darci

Response:

try www.orchidsource.com for some good info. looks like you need to repot as soon as you can! try to be sure you remove all the rotted and dead roots and planting media. I have some from home depot and i have found that the regularly plant the orchid in a really small plastic pot then put the pot in a larger pot packed with bark and charge you for the larger pot size. anyway the orchid uaually dies a slow death because the roots rot in the little pot good luck! – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I have been growing orchids for about 18 months. We bought our first one (a phalanopsis) at Home Depot–and several more (both Dendrobium and Phals) either there or at orchid greenhouses. I am very careful to not overwater them–I try to water them every 10-14 days. And they seem to be happier now that I keep them in the window! Well, now my miniature dendrobium orchids (in 2" pots) are finished blooming. I was really impressed to get them to bloom again! And my larger dendrobium (in 4" pot and about 2 ft tall!) hasn’t bloomed since we bought it. Some of the leaves are turning yellow and falling off and overall the plant just looks sad. My first phal hasn’t bloomed anymore because, like an idiot, I cut off the spike. When will it send up another one? Can I persuade it to grow another one? I bought a second phal last February–AND IT IS STILL BLOOMING!!! This one likes me! It looks very strange–very spindley–it keeps sending new shoots off the main spike to continue blooming. I have to keep it up high, since the blooms are now lower than the pot. How do I know when I need to repot them? One of my tiny dendrobiums has produced several "babies" and has a ton of roots that aren’t even in the pot! And my first phal’s roots are taking over the window sill! Overall, I have been very happy with my orchids. But since I don’t know very much about them, I thought I’d write and introduce myself. I think that my old phal and large dendrobium need some help. But I’ll listen to any advice! I moved to San Jose, CA last year and would like to find a local orchid nursery that might be able to help me out. Thanks in advance for any help! Darci

Response:

  Hi, Darci!   About the den: ….Some of the leaves are turning yellow and falling off and overall the plant just looks sad.

  I’m not an expert w/ dens, but I do think I’ve read that it isn’t unusual for dens to drop older leaves-are the yellowing leaves on the older canes? …My first phal hasn’t bloomed anymore because, like an idiot, I cut off the spike. When will it send up another one? Can I persuade it to grow another one? You didn’t do anything wrong by cutting off the spike after the

flowers died.  There’s an ongoing, er, ‘disscussion’ here about the pros/cons of partially cutting back the phal spike and allowing it to bloom again or form a keike. All my phals are in various stages of spiking now-I think phals need a cooling period to trigger spike formation.  Maybe one of our resident experts will offer more here . …I bought a second phal last February–AND IT IS STILL BLOOMING!!!

This one likes me! It looks very strange–very spindley–it keeps sending new shoots off the main spike to continue blooming.   What’s the name of this phal?  Just curious… How do I know when I need to repot them? One of my tiny dendrobiums

has produced several "babies" and has a ton of roots that aren’t even in the pot! And my first phal’s roots are taking over the window sill!   I don’t think dens mind being potbound, but refer above to my relationship w/ dens…I wouldn’t worry about the out of pot roots. Mine do the same thing, which puzzles my husband to no end<g.  When to repot, I think, will depend on the condition of the medium.  If the phal is in bark, you will repot when it has broken down.  Repot after flowering.   I am wondering if your phals are in direct sun in the windowsill?   So, that’s my two cents worth this morning.  I will yield to more experienced growers on the suggestions I’ve made, of course .   Good luck and nice to meet you, Darci!   Regards,   Karen   http://www.rollanet.org/~mknisbet/ Before you buy.

Response:

I have been growing orchids for about 18 months. We bought our first one (a phalanopsis) at Home Depot–and several more (both Dendrobium and Phals) either there or at orchid greenhouses. I am very careful to not overwater them–I try to water them every 10-14 days. And they seem to be happier now that I keep them in the window! Well, now my miniature dendrobium orchids (in 2" pots) are finished blooming. I was really impressed to get them to bloom again! And my larger dendrobium (in 4" pot and about 2 ft tall!) hasn’t bloomed since we bought it. Some of the leaves are turning yellow and falling off and overall the plant just looks sad. My first phal hasn’t bloomed anymore because, like an idiot, I cut off the spike. When will it send up another one? Can I persuade it to grow another one? I bought a second phal last February–AND IT IS STILL BLOOMING!!! This one likes me! It looks very strange–very spindley–it keeps sending new shoots off the main spike to continue blooming. I have to keep it up high, since the blooms are now lower than the pot. How do I know when I need to repot them? One of my tiny dendrobiums has produced several "babies" and has a ton of roots that aren’t even in the pot! And my first phal’s roots are taking over the window sill! Overall, I have been very happy with my orchids. But since I don’t know very much about them, I thought I’d write and introduce myself. I think that my old phal and large dendrobium need some help. But I’ll listen to any advice! I moved to San Jose, CA last year and would like to find a local orchid nursery that might be able to help me out. Thanks in advance for any help! Darci

Response:

Filed under: Dendrobium Orchid

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