Dendrobium victoria-reginae II goes back in pot

Dendrobium victoria-reginae

     My new dendrobium victoria reginae started losing leaves.  I can think of two possible reasons why: either at 90+F my apartment is too hot for this cool-grower to handle, or its mount was drying out too much.  I can't do anything about the heat until my air conditioner arrives in the mail, but I did reconsider my original decision to mount the plant.

     I know that this species likes lots of water, and in this heat, the mount was drying up within hours.  While my tolumnias have been thriving under these conditions, the den victoria reginae probably needs a more even amount of moisture.

     When I took the dendrobium off its mount, the roots seemed in good condition.  I kept the sphagnum moss around the roots, and potted the whole thing into a 4inch clear plastic pot.  I filled out the rest of the pot with oncidium potting mix.  Depending on how the roots fare in this mix, I may decided to switch later to small bark pieces, or something else like that.

Edit (11/16/12): This orchid died not long after I wrote this post.  It lost all its leaves and the canes shriveled up. I'm guessing that it could not tolerate the unairconditioned heat of NYC summer.  Since this is my second failed attempt with Den. victoriae-reginae, I have now given up on trying to grow this species.

Replacement Orchids

My new dendrobium victoria reginae as it arrived in the mail

     Faced with the decline of two of my orchids, namely the den victoria reginae and the psychopsis mariposa, I went and ordered two replacements.  I purposefully chose a different vendor for the replacement plants.

One flower bud on the old cane

     The new den victoria reginae is larger, and hopefully hardier.  The largest cane is 1 foot tall, with eleven 2.5-inch leaves.  There is one flower bud on the old cane, but I am keeping my expectations low in regards to flowers.  First, I need this cool-growing orchid to survive the 100F heat wave that is currently heralding the start of summer in NYC (my orchids and I live without air-conditioning).

Dendrobium victoria reginae roots

     I hesitated for a while in deciding how to grow my new dendrobium.  The last one had 'died' (the canes are leafless, but I am still watering periodically in hopes of encouraging some new growth), and I didn't want to repeat my past mistakes.  In the end I decided to go with the mounting route.  My previous den originally declined while I had it potted, and (except for the mishap while I was away on vacation) it seemed to be recovering well while growing on a mount.

     The roots on this den are of decent quality.  There was some ancient sphagnum near the base of the plant (which I removed) and I trimmed off many rotten roots.  However, there are many new roots tips, which which hopefully help the orchid adjust to its new setting.  These tips are an odd bright orange color, for some reason.

mounted dendrobium victoria reginae

    I mounted the orchid on a piece of aquarium wood, and perched it somewhat precariusly against the side of my shelf.  Here's hoping it grows well, because if it doesn't, then I'll sadly have to give up on this beautiful species.

Psychopsis Mendenhall 'Hildos' as it arrived in the mail

     As a travel companion for the dendrobium, I also ordered a replacement psychopsis.  For a mere $10 more in price, this beautiful new plant puts my sickly old psychopsis 'mariposa' to shame.  I absolutely love the deep green mottling on the thick waxy leaves.  There are 5 pseudobulbs, and the largest leaf is 10 inches long.  And as an added bonus, the orchid is in spike.

Healthy Psychopsis mendenhall roots?  Maybe not

     I tipped the orchid out of its pot to check on the roots, and was happy with what I saw.  These roots are healthy and firm, with several growing tips.  Since the media would not fit nicely back into the old pot, I up-potted the orchid into a slightly larger plastic pot, adding some extra media around the sides.  I tried to minimize any disruption to the roots as much as possible.

     If the flowers come out as beautiful as the leaves, then this just may become my new favorite orchid.