Den Hibiki culture tips? - Orchid Board

camille1585 · #1 08-31-2018, 04:00 AM

My Den Hibiki keeps on going downhill, and I really need your help with it! This seems like a popular Den on the forum, so hopefully I'll figure out what I'm doing wrong.

I bought it early this year, it seemed to do ok the first couple months, then it suddenly was not ok. The leaves started developing spots and dropping off and the bulbs shriveling up. I moved it to the shadier side of the rack (no more direct sun, only bright indirect) and after reading some comments here in May or June, I repotted it into sphag and never let the sphag fully dry out.

However it has still been going downhill and many bulbs have died but I don't know if it's still my culture which is wrong, or if it really didn't appreciate the 28C-34C in my living room for about 5-6 weeks this summer.

Dollythehun · #2 08-31-2018, 06:54 AM

There was a thread by Steve a while back...I ended up raising my humidity by sticking the plant in a plastic bag with a few holes punched in it. It started sprouting leaves again. So, could humidity be your issue? Mines not out of the woods but on the uptick.

katrina · #3 08-31-2018, 06:58 AM

How did the roots look when you repotted it into sphag?

Ok, so, Hibiki is a hybrid of laevifolium x bracteosum...I mention this because laevifolium (while touted as heat tolerant) can sometimes be tricky when it gets too warm. I've seen some that do just fine in the heat...and others that go belly up rather quickly when temps get too high. I tried to grow laevifolium 2x and both did horrible in my conditions...I suspect heat being the biggest problem because they did fine over the winter and then would go into decline in the summer. ??

I have no trouble w/heat and my Hibiki but given the hybrid status...perhaps you got one that is just a bit more sensitive. ??

I've been growing this one for 4-5 years and I grow mine in orchiata (seedling size), in a plastic pot that is covered in slots and holes around the sides and in the bottom (roots escaping from every opening in that pot!), and it sits in a saucer of water year round (w/a mass of roots growing out of the bottom of the pot into almost a solid mat).
Light - in the winter it is under HO T5 lights and they do get very hot so I've learned (the hard way!) to keep it off to the side of the lights or I get what looks like heat damage on the leaves. It is happiest sitting at the edges of the light. In the summer it's on my east facing porch...direct sun until about 10am and then just bright shade after that.
My temps this summer have been very warm...many days into the 90's w/nights in the mid to upper 70's, intermixed w/more comfortable temps of 80's and upper 60's/low 70's at night. Even w/the longer stretches of high heat, the plant hasn't skipped a beat.

So, what were your roots like when you repotted? Is this a mature plant or rather small?

This is my absolute favorite Den...and even though most of my favs are catts...if I could only grow 3 plants...this is one that would stay. No lie, this little guy is in bloom at least 10 months of the year.

Current pic below...it's been blooming since before it went outside in May.

You can see the saucer of water...it's not usually that full but we had rain the night before and I hadn't yet emptied it. I do usually keep that saucer at least half full though. Also, please not, it looks like it's in a clay pot but that's just for stability because it is so top heavy...plastic pot is down inside the clay pot and both sitting in water. And, for size reference...that clay pot is a 5" clay bulb pan type pot -short and wide.

I would also like to add...you can't tell with the pic but there are a ton of buds still developing...it will probably be in bloom into winter and then it'll take a short rest and then fire up again. It produces new growths all year long. It's a real power-house!

Dollythehun · #4 08-31-2018, 07:02 AM

Ok Katrina, I'm pink with envy.

katrina · #5 08-31-2018, 07:10 AM

Thanks, dolly! Honestly, I take very little credit for it...it is such an easy grower for me. I love, love, love this one and will add any variations of it, if I find any.

camille1585 · #6 08-31-2018, 07:31 AM

Katrina, yours looks amazing!!! That sort of photo is exactly why I wanted this hybrid. So far I'm failing miserably.

To answer questions, it's a small, but mature plant. I had a hard time judging the health of the roots when I repotted. Many were brown, but didn't feel squishy, so I left them on the assumption that they were still functional. I think I had underwatered it as before it was in rather large bark and I treated it like my other dens, so water when approaching dryness. But it seems this one needs more water than that, and even more than what I'm giving now. There are still a good number of good roots that I can see on/near the surface of the media now.

Humidity levels are not great. I bought a digital HR/temp meter over the winter, and this spring summer it has been between 35 and 50%. I'll try to make something to raise humidity for it. If heat was an issue, that problem is now solved as we've moved into cool, rainy fall weather already.

I might buy another at a show next month to try proper culture from the beginning on a healthy plant. One vendor I shop at and that will be there has Den. Hibiki "Sandra`s Delight" CCE/AOS

katrina · #7 08-31-2018, 07:55 AM

I have miserable humidity during the winter...sometimes down into single digits...and it does just fine. I do get some leaf tip issues but nothing too terrible.

I really dont think it's a humidity issue as much as probably too dry for too long and now its struggling to bounce back. The extra humidity right now could help in the recovery process so it can't hurt to try however, you could just be working with a weaker grower. If that laevifolium parent is dominant, it could be an uphill battle because it seems that once laev goes into decline, it usually doesn't recover.

If it were mine, I'd tweak my conditions and give it some time but I would also buy another if I saw one.

Take this with a grain of salt but... I am of the opinion that the stronger magenta colored ones favor the bracteosum parent's heat tolerance. I have no proof of that except it seems the ones I've seen struggling are the lighter colored ones. ???

Optimist · #8 08-31-2018, 09:49 AM

My experience with Hibiki and the other New Guinea dendrobium I have (canneliculatum cross) is that they cannot dry out. They also have a lower water winter "rest" but this does not mean "no water." Mine is not as big as the great photo above, about a 3.5-inch pot. It is definitely a show stopper when in bloom.

I have not re-potted it yet. I would want it potted the exact same way it is now though. I do not know if it suffers from any kind of re-potting stress.

I was not a dendrobium fan at all. I think it is because the Nobiles I generally got were so huge. I like the flowers, but what I mainly like is the plant size. It does not get outrageously large, and it stays neat and tidy.

Fairorchids · #9 09-02-2018, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist

My experience with Hibiki and the other New Guinea dendrobium I have (canneliculatum cross) is that they cannot dry out. They also have a lower water winter "rest" but this does not mean "no water." Mine is not as big as the great photo above, about a 3.5-inch pot. It is definitely a show stopper when in bloom.

I have not re-potted it yet. I would want it potted the exact same way it is now though. I do not know if it suffers from any kind of re-potting stress.

I was not a dendrobium fan at all. I think it is because the Nobiles I generally got were so huge. I like the flowers, but what I mainly like is the plant size. It does not get outrageously large, and it stays neat and tidy.

You can control the height of Den nobile and it's hybrids. If you want to limit them to say 15" in height, when the new growth is about 12" tall, pluck the center leaf. The already formed cane segments will mature, but it will not form any more.