i jsut found an awful looking dendrobium eima white at work and took
it home to see what i could do. it was potted in a plastic pot inside
of a terracotta one. all of the visible roots were dead and most of the
bulbs/stalks were as well. there is one living stalk and one live leaf,
along with a little cluster of roots growing outside of the pot,
looking like the plant was literally trying to escape the hostile pot.
my plan was to cut all of the dead matter and repot it in the center of
the pot, or perhaps mount it.

when i went to remove it from the old pot, however, i discovered that a
large root network had developed between the plastic and the terracotta
pot.

What would be the best thing to do from here? Repot it in the center of
the pot? mount it?

any advice would be greatly appreciated.

thanks

Sarah, being a newbie I won't try to tell you how to pot the
dendrobium. I did a search of rec.gardens.orchids (this group) for
"potting dendrobiums" and got 117 hits. I read a few and believe the
info you need is here. Firstrays.com is a great source of info. as is
AOS.com.
You won't be far off if you repot it in a plastic pot of the same size
as the terracotta one you removed it from. After you have removed all
the dead roots and dipped it in a disinfectant solution. You will need
to consult the above sources for potting medium info. as I don't do
Dens.
You came to the right place, you just got a kid , the heavy hitters
will chime in later.
Joe T
Houston

Sarah,

Whether to pot or mount depends to a large degree on the type of environment
you can give this plant. Mounted, it will obviously require more frequent
watering and generally higher humidity.

About the plant itself, try to keep as many of those other roots intact as
you can. If you have already taken the plant out ot the old pot(s), then
disregard this, but if not, you can cut away the plastic pot, leaving
whatever you can't get away from the roots in place. As for the clay pot,
carefully break it (cover with a towel and smash with a hammer) and then
take away as many shards as possible. Neither the plastic nor the clay
remaining will harm the plant, whether you mount or pot.

HTH

Diana

Ok what I did was carefully remove it from the pot, remove all dead
parts (i think) and remount in on a piece of rock with sphagnum moss.
This was about a week ago and now the leaf has turned almost completely
brown. At first I thought it was getting too much light, as the leaf
began turning lighter in color and almost transparent looking, but it
rapidly (light browned). I am devestated.... is there anything I can
do?

Sarah

Diana Kulaga wrote:
Sarah,

Whether to pot or mount depends to a large degree on the type of environment
you can give this plant. Mounted, it will obviously require more frequent
watering and generally higher humidity.

About the plant itself, try to keep as many of those other roots intact as
you can. If you have already taken the plant out ot the old pot(s), then
disregard this, but if not, you can cut away the plastic pot, leaving
whatever you can't get away from the roots in place. As for the clay pot,
carefully break it (cover with a towel and smash with a hammer) and then
take away as many shards as possible. Neither the plastic nor the clay
remaining will harm the plant, whether you mount or pot.

HTH

Diana

On 1 Jun 2006 12:39:55 -0700, "sarahsbs" wrote:

Ok what I did was carefully remove it from the pot, remove all dead
parts (i think) and remount in on a piece of rock with sphagnum moss.
This was about a week ago and now the leaf has turned almost completely
brown. At first I thought it was getting too much light, as the leaf
began turning lighter in color and almost transparent looking, but it
rapidly (light browned). I am devestated.... is there anything I can
do?

Sarah


One week -- That is what the plant was working on BEFORE you moved it.
You need 6 months to a year to know if the plant will grow to the
rock.

If you think it is short of roots, and leaves move it back from the
strong light. But until a Den. turns to dust, it is still alive.
This group of plants grow for the most part in areas where severe
drought is a given not a sometime event.

Keep the faith and give it 6 months to recover. One of the worst
things we do is to keep fussing over these plants. They do not like
to be manipulated or moved around.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php

well that is comforting to know. my only concern is that the
floundering leaf i just mentioned is the *only* leaf on the plant. How
will it photosynthesize?


Susan Erickson wrote:
On 1 Jun 2006 12:39:55 -0700, "sarahsbs" wrote:

Ok what I did was carefully remove it from the pot, remove all dead
parts (i think) and remount in on a piece of rock with sphagnum moss.
This was about a week ago and now the leaf has turned almost completely
brown. At first I thought it was getting too much light, as the leaf
began turning lighter in color and almost transparent looking, but it
rapidly (light browned). I am devestated.... is there anything I can
do?

Sarah


One week -- That is what the plant was working on BEFORE you moved it.
You need 6 months to a year to know if the plant will grow to the
rock.

If you think it is short of roots, and leaves move it back from the
strong light. But until a Den. turns to dust, it is still alive.
This group of plants grow for the most part in areas where severe
drought is a given not a sometime event.

Keep the faith and give it 6 months to recover. One of the worst
things we do is to keep fussing over these plants. They do not like
to be manipulated or moved around.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php

I have posted pictures of my dendrobium eima white because I am
concerned... you can see them he


http://homepage.mac.com/sarahsbs/PhotoAlbum2.html



any advise would be greatly appreciated

sarah


Susan Erickson wrote:
On 1 Jun 2006 12:39:55 -0700, "sarahsbs" wrote:

Ok what I did was carefully remove it from the pot, remove all dead
parts (i think) and remount in on a piece of rock with sphagnum moss.
This was about a week ago and now the leaf has turned almost completely
brown. At first I thought it was getting too much light, as the leaf
began turning lighter in color and almost transparent looking, but it
rapidly (light browned). I am devestated.... is there anything I can
do?

Sarah


One week -- That is what the plant was working on BEFORE you moved it.
You need 6 months to a year to know if the plant will grow to the
rock.

If you think it is short of roots, and leaves move it back from the
strong light. But until a Den. turns to dust, it is still alive.
This group of plants grow for the most part in areas where severe
drought is a given not a sometime event.

Keep the faith and give it 6 months to recover. One of the worst
things we do is to keep fussing over these plants. They do not like
to be manipulated or moved around.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php

On 3 Jun 2006 11:14:13 -0700, "sarahsbs" wrote:

I have posted pictures of my dendrobium eima white because I am
concerned... you can see them he


http://homepage.mac.com/sarahsbs/PhotoAlbum2.html



any advise would be greatly appreciated

sarah


The cane is green - IT IS ALIVE.
Give it time to grow roots and a new cane and leaves. It will
probably be 6-12 months. Treat it as a plant... IT is one. Water and
keep in good light, but not direct sun.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php

thanks. should i remove the leaf? fertilize?

sarah

Susan Erickson wrote:
On 3 Jun 2006 11:14:13 -0700, "sarahsbs" wrote:

I have posted pictures of my dendrobium eima white because I am
concerned... you can see them he


http://homepage.mac.com/sarahsbs/PhotoAlbum2.html



any advise would be greatly appreciated

sarah


The cane is green - IT IS ALIVE.
Give it time to grow roots and a new cane and leaves. It will
probably be 6-12 months. Treat it as a plant... IT is one. Water and
keep in good light, but not direct sun.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/main.php