Hi Tony,

Please don't throw the plant away, I can't believe that they would put that on a label! Here are a few reference places to get you started, give them a read and let us know of any further questions.

Our FAQ answers a lot of basic questions about orchid care: FAQ

American Orchid Society Culture Sheet: Dend. Care (PDF)

The wonderful people on this forum also generally recommend purchasing Ortho's "All About Orchids" which is a great (and fairly cheap) starting book. It is usually available at Home Depot, other box stores, online, etc.

Welcome to the hobby and the forum!
~Jem

Ditto what Jem says!

Ok, thanks! I've checked out the FAQs but will check the society's page as well.

I thought the directions were very odd and questionable.

>>I should throw away the plant once the flowers have fallen off.
Whaaaat!?
I would like to see that label lol.

If thats for real, then the nursery has gone to an all-time low on ensuring recurring revenue lol.

Your new shoots/canes should bloom when they reach maturity. This usually takes anywhere from 4 to 8 months depending on the specific hybrid.

If it is not a nobile-type dendrobium, and given proper care it would even have a chance to send new spikes from old canes.

I bought orchids from HD and never had one tag say to discard the plant when flowering is finished. These are long lived plants that bloom every year. Dens have to be one of the easiest orchids to grow.

Wetfeet-it is real... The nursery is Kerry's Bromeliad Nursery.

The plant tag actually does say

"Plants can be discarded when no longer flowering. It's okay. We'll grow more!"

It's sad.

>>"Plants can be discarded when no longer flowering. It's okay. We'll grow more!"

Oh my. Its that blatant now huh?
Now I have seen everything lol.

See??!! I wasn't making it up! I guess the orchid growing business is in dire straits if the nursery is that desperate for business -- what a blatant disregard for their plants!

Personally, I'm guilty of holding on to plants for way too long, in the hopes that they come back from their death throes.

There has only been one period of time in my life when I had the right stuff to rebloom a dend. People buying Poinsettia, Holiday Cactus, Amaryliss and various other flowering houseplants are routinely advised to discard them after their blooms are done. Most ignore the advice and take the challenge of re-blooming these plants and I can only imagine the success to failure ratio is quite skewed in the direction of failure. The advice to take umbrage at the advice to discard the dend is of course well meant and appropriate given where we are but it ain't gonna happen for Tony unless he makes some new friends: Compact, Fluorescent and Light.

H

Repot it (underpot) in lava rock, hang it in the full sun (once it has adjusted to it), give it lots of air flow, water often in the summer and bring it in during the cold months to a sunny window. It should grow great!

I guess I'm not as offended by the advice on the tag as others are. A Dend is a plant just like a Poinsettia. Both are equal in Gods little kingdom I would think. How many of us have tossed a Poinsettia after it's reached that really ugly state and not given it a second thought?

I must admit I have a huge bias against these grotesque monsters of nature. In my book the only time I can tolerate them is the week before Christmas and Christmas Day. The minute that passes, into the trash they must go. Nothing more obscene than a Poinsettia stick hanging onto a couple of those red leaves in July. OK, I've digressed here a bit.

Would anyone think ill of a person because they didn't want to go through all the special treatment necessary to bring one of those back to it's full glory? Reblooming a Dend might be easy for some folks, but isn't for everyone. Nothing wrong with trying though. Nothing wrong with tossing it either.

Kevin

Well said, Kevin, in fact, I would argue that it is the challenge to get the plant (any plant) to re-bloom that makes gardening so addictive. We all got into orchids by drooling at them in the supermarket, in friends' greenhouses, or in botanical gardens. It doesn't matter if it is a Christmas cactus, orchid, or amarylis that hooks us. In fact, I remember buying a phal in bloom at HD with an American Orchid Society tag, and it said, just throw it away, we will grow more!! I was determined to get it to re-bloom to test what other's had classified as my "green thumbness". Looking back I was kind of dumb-founded - why would an organization dedicated to growing orchids tell potential memebers to throw them away? Reverse psychology - maybe, I just think someone used an AOS tag and wrote whatever they wanted to on back. I wish I still had the tag, I think the orchid died since it was one my first, lol!!!

Sorry, Tony, this has turned into a debate about whether or not to keep the plant. I live in New Jersey and I have my dendrobiums in very bright light. What type of dendrobium is it? If the stub of the bloom spike is near the tip of the cane, it's the phalaenopsis type that needs bright light, intermediate warmth and likes to almost dry out but not quite before being watered again. If the bloom stubs are up and down the cane, it's a nobile type that needs lots of sun and water in spring and summer, and then in the fall the watering tapers off, and in the winter the plant must be kept sunny, cool, and dry. Right now it sounds as if the plant is happy.

I had no idea this would such a hotly debated topic. Orchid126 the bloom stubs are up and down the cane making it a nobile type, according to your description.

I guess I'll keep it around just to see what happens. I mean, it is still alive, so why toss it?

Cheers to all,
Tony

I've got a Den blooming now that's planted in potting soil. One of the few survivors from that storm a 2 years back. I plan to pot it in orchid mix now that I know it wont only survive, but will still bloom. :)