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#1
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HELP HELP HELP
I am totally new to Orchid growing and need some advice.
I was bought an Orchid last year from either Lowes or Home Depot. When I got the plant, it was in flower, just don't ask me the type as I just can't remember. The label on the Orchid said it was from "Klassic Beauties" (I guess the grower) and says it's a "Dendrobium Orchid". The Orchid itself is secured in the pot by what looks like three pieces of wood secured by a metal bar. The roots are visible. There is no soil of any description in the pot. There are four stems coming out from the pot. When the flowers died, I left it in the bathroom by the window and periodically watered it. When recently watering it I noticed that between two pairs of leaves on one stem there is a shoot. The shoot itself is now about an inch long (seems to be growing daily) and there are four little roots coming from the bottom of the shoot. The longest root is about half an inch and now actually appears to be going into the leaf below it. Another stem that has no leaves on it now has a small shoot about an inch long with a small root at the bottom of it and I noticed that coming up from the root mass at the bottom of the plant is another shoot. Can anyone please give me some advice as to what I should do. Do I leave the new shoots on there or do I take them off and if so at what size and how should they be potted. What should they be potted in ? Any help would be much appreciated. TIA. |
#2
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HELP HELP HELP
Don't cut anything off, you appear to have new growth but nothing big enough
to divide. Unless your bathroom is extraordinarily bright, the plant is probably not getting enough light to produce more flowers, but that you will have to change gradually, to avoid sunburn. -- Kenni Judd Juno Beach Orchids http://www.jborchids.com "Lynne" wrote in message ... I am totally new to Orchid growing and need some advice. I was bought an Orchid last year from either Lowes or Home Depot. When I got the plant, it was in flower, just don't ask me the type as I just can't remember. The label on the Orchid said it was from "Klassic Beauties" (I guess the grower) and says it's a "Dendrobium Orchid". The Orchid itself is secured in the pot by what looks like three pieces of wood secured by a metal bar. The roots are visible. There is no soil of any description in the pot. There are four stems coming out from the pot. When the flowers died, I left it in the bathroom by the window and periodically watered it. When recently watering it I noticed that between two pairs of leaves on one stem there is a shoot. The shoot itself is now about an inch long (seems to be growing daily) and there are four little roots coming from the bottom of the shoot. The longest root is about half an inch and now actually appears to be going into the leaf below it. Another stem that has no leaves on it now has a small shoot about an inch long with a small root at the bottom of it and I noticed that coming up from the root mass at the bottom of the plant is another shoot. Can anyone please give me some advice as to what I should do. Do I leave the new shoots on there or do I take them off and if so at what size and how should they be potted. What should they be potted in ? Any help would be much appreciated. TIA. |
#3
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HELP HELP HELP
My bathroom is probably the lightest room in the house. Virtually all one
wall is window and gets full sun for most of the day. The plant is just to the side of the window where it gets the light but is not directly hit with the sun. Will I need to take off the shoots when they get bigger, and if so, about how big. Now I have got it this far I want to nurture it to full beauty but don't want to do anything to risk damaging it or killing it. Thank you for your advice. It is very much appreciated. |
#4
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HELP HELP HELP
Lynne,
I can't find your original post at the moment, but I think you said you had a dendrobium. Here are some growing instructions from the American Orchid Society: http://www.orchidweb.org/orchids/cul...r/dendrobe.pdf If you are interested, Ortho's All About Orchids is a very good book abour growing orchids, and is rather inexpensive ($12 or so). Your library may have it. BTW, don't cut anything off of the plant. Orchids do not grow suckers like roses and tomatoes do. Read up on the plants care and you will find that most orchids aren't that hard to grow. HTH --Matt |
#5
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HELP HELP HELP
Lynne: These "shoots" are new growths for the plant as a whole. You need
3-4 of them [a couple of old ones, 1 new one] to make a decent division. So please, go hide the cutters where it will take you a long time to find them!!! IF the plant [not just some stray roots, but the actual growths of the plant] are starting to grow outside of the pot, then you might want to give it a bigger one, but that doesn't require cutting. If the plant is in lava rock, you can just remove the old pot, put the whole thing into a SLIGHTLY larger pot and fill around. If it's in bark, moss, or something else that goes bad, you should remove the old mix and use all fresh. If you have new growth coming, and it sounds like you do, this is a good time to do that. Folks vary in their descriptions of light -- by my definition, if your bathroom has a roof on it that is not 100% skylight, it is NOT full sun. Watch your leaf color, you do not want it to get to be deep forest green. You didn't say where you were, but I suspect that if you do keep the plant inside, you will need to nudge it closer to the light source. Good growing, Kenni "Lynne" wrote in message ... My bathroom is probably the lightest room in the house. Virtually all one wall is window and gets full sun for most of the day. The plant is just to the side of the window where it gets the light but is not directly hit with the sun. Will I need to take off the shoots when they get bigger, and if so, about how big. Now I have got it this far I want to nurture it to full beauty but don't want to do anything to risk damaging it or killing it. Thank you for your advice. It is very much appreciated. |
#6
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HELP HELP HELP
Thank you both, Kenni and Matthew for your advice. It doesn't look like it
need re-potting. I thought it was secured with pieces of wood but my neighbor looked at it and he said it looked like coconut shells. Whatever it is, it definitely is not soil of any description. The one thing I have noticed is that, unlike soil, it does not retain water so I am watering it every other day. It seems to dry out pretty quickly. The light source is from the window as opposed to a skylight in the roof. The plant is kept inside the house. Most of the leafs are a dark color but I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that a few of the leaves are lightening up in color going more towards a yellow color. I thought maybe they were dying. I am actually in North Alabama. I am sure my questions sound silly, but I am excited about these new shoots, especially considering my husband was convinced it would die. I just don't want to risk it dying now especially since it is throwing out new growth. Lynne Maybe I should take some photos of it. "Kenni Judd" wrote in message ... Lynne: These "shoots" are new growths for the plant as a whole. You need 3-4 of them [a couple of old ones, 1 new one] to make a decent division. So please, go hide the cutters where it will take you a long time to find them!!! IF the plant [not just some stray roots, but the actual growths of the plant] are starting to grow outside of the pot, then you might want to give it a bigger one, but that doesn't require cutting. If the plant is in lava rock, you can just remove the old pot, put the whole thing into a SLIGHTLY larger pot and fill around. If it's in bark, moss, or something else that goes bad, you should remove the old mix and use all fresh. If you have new growth coming, and it sounds like you do, this is a good time to do that. Folks vary in their descriptions of light -- by my definition, if your bathroom has a roof on it that is not 100% skylight, it is NOT full sun. Watch your leaf color, you do not want it to get to be deep forest green. You didn't say where you were, but I suspect that if you do keep the plant inside, you will need to nudge it closer to the light source. Good growing, Kenni "Lynne" wrote in message ... My bathroom is probably the lightest room in the house. Virtually all one wall is window and gets full sun for most of the day. The plant is just to the side of the window where it gets the light but is not directly hit with the sun. Will I need to take off the shoots when they get bigger, and if so, about how big. Now I have got it this far I want to nurture it to full beauty but don't want to do anything to risk damaging it or killing it. Thank you for your advice. It is very much appreciated. |
#7
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HELP HELP HELP
Thank you both, Kenni and Matthew for your advice. It doesn't look like it
need re-potting. I thought it was secured with pieces of wood but my neighbor looked at it and he said it looked like coconut shells. Whatever it is, it definitely is not soil of any description. The one thing I have noticed is that, unlike soil, it does not retain water so I am watering it every other day. It seems to dry out pretty quickly. The light source is from the window as opposed to a skylight in the roof. The plant is kept inside the house. Most of the leafs are a dark color but I have noticed in the last couple of weeks that a few of the leaves are lightening up in color going more towards a yellow color. I thought maybe they were dying. I am actually in North Alabama. I am sure my questions sound silly, but I am excited about these new shoots, especially considering my husband was convinced it would die. I just don't want to risk it dying now especially since it is throwing out new growth. Lynne "Kenni Judd" wrote in message ... Lynne: These "shoots" are new growths for the plant as a whole. You need 3-4 of them [a couple of old ones, 1 new one] to make a decent division. So please, go hide the cutters where it will take you a long time to find them!!! IF the plant [not just some stray roots, but the actual growths of the plant] are starting to grow outside of the pot, then you might want to give it a bigger one, but that doesn't require cutting. If the plant is in lava rock, you can just remove the old pot, put the whole thing into a SLIGHTLY larger pot and fill around. If it's in bark, moss, or something else that goes bad, you should remove the old mix and use all fresh. If you have new growth coming, and it sounds like you do, this is a good time to do that. Folks vary in their descriptions of light -- by my definition, if your bathroom has a roof on it that is not 100% skylight, it is NOT full sun. Watch your leaf color, you do not want it to get to be deep forest green. You didn't say where you were, but I suspect that if you do keep the plant inside, you will need to nudge it closer to the light source. Good growing, Kenni "Lynne" wrote in message ... My bathroom is probably the lightest room in the house. Virtually all one wall is window and gets full sun for most of the day. The plant is just to the side of the window where it gets the light but is not directly hit with the sun. Will I need to take off the shoots when they get bigger, and if so, about how big. Now I have got it this far I want to nurture it to full beauty but don't want to do anything to risk damaging it or killing it. Thank you for your advice. It is very much appreciated. |
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