DEND spike puzzle
 

My Dendrobium orchid dropped its last flower and I barely could make out
the spike..its so small. That is about a week ago. Since then i watered
the plant and noticed healthy looking roots, now almost coming over the
pot. BUT, when i looked at the spike, hoping to see some sign of
growing, its doing the opposite. It looks like its shriveling almost to
nothing. Healthy roots, poor spike. BTW, in this same pot there are
about 3 more growths of stalks? One is pale color and hard as a 'rock'
and the others are green and healthy looking. What are they? Suckers?

Hi, Anthony,

If I'm reading you right, you now have a bare spike. New flowers will not
grow on that spike, so it's safe to cut it off, using a sterile tool (single
edged razor blades are fine; discard after using on a plant). That differs
from Phalaenopsis, on which it is possible, though not always recommended,
to encourage new blooms on a spike which has lost its flowers.

No. Wait. Are you talking about a spike, or a cane? Spikes grow from the
canes of a Dendrobium. Canes, which are the plant's pseudobulbs, grow from
the plant's rhizome. So, this "spike": is it growing from the base of the
plant, basically out of the medium? Or is it growing off of the existing
cane? Don't cut anything until we get the terminology down.

The "stalks" you mention, unless something else is growing in the pot, are
other canes growing from the rhizome. Even if one is hard as a rock, it can
produce a spike.

Any possibility that you can take a couple of pictures of this plant and
post them at alt.binaries.pictures.orchids?

Diana