Leaf loss on Dendrobium Burana Sundae
Two months ago, my Dendrobium Burana Sundae arrived as a deceptive mess. It had many thick, tall canes promising a vigorous and fast growing plant, but the roots were a broken, rotten mess. I ended up trimming most of them away, which is why I needed to add a stake to the pot just so the canes wouldn't topple over.
In the past two months, the orchid has shed all of the leaves from its older two canes. Since the dendrobium arrived with 3 generations of canes bearing leaves, I highly doubt that this is normal for this hybrid. Some dens are deciduous and regularly shed their leaves in the winter season as part of their growth cycle, but I don't think this is one such.
In addition, all the older canes have developed shriveling, and the oldest cane has taken on a ghastly orange-yellow color. I have no way of seeing what's going on with the roots right now (I don't want to disturb the plant yet), but I suspect that the rest of the old roots have died off in the last two months. It's likely that only the cluster of newish 2-3" long roots from the newest cane remain. I'll probably check up on them in a few more months.
In the meantime, the orchid lives in my terrarium, where it's hopefully benefiting from raised humidity. I water it whenever the humidity tray on the bottom of the pot dries out, which is about every 2 weeks. I've also been giving it followup treatments with systemic fungicide, because its roots were in such a damaged state, and because I am generally so suspicious about the orchid's health.
The orchid is currently planted in "dendrobium" mix from rePotme.com, but I'm wondering if maybe I should move it to coarser bark to help it dry faster. Regardless, I won't be changing anything until after I return from the holidays.
