Jerry's comments sound like the best advice. See if you can take it back. And if you get another den be sure to look at the roots as soon as you can.

I wish I could return this plant too, but unfortunately it was not purchased at a store. I bought it from a flower stand at an end-of-summer fair; it was the first time I saw dendrobiums for sale here in Toronto aside from the Internet and orchid shows.

Right now all I can do is either toss it or try to save it... I think I will attempt to save it :)

I cut all the roots off and applied some rooting hormone on the plant base. It is propped up on its original empty container now with about a centimeter of water in the bottom to increase the humidity. The plant is not touching the water - I am afraid it will cause more rot. I will be looking for a new suitable pot ASAP. I already have a bag of Schultz orchid mix at home that I've been using for my phals, so I will be using it for the dendrobium as well.

As for the light source, my orchids are kept under a skylight (not directly under, but slightly off to the side). The phals seem to like it there - most of them grew new leaves this summer. The pictures are a bit dark because it was raining outside at the time I took them.

Thank you everyone for your advice :)
I will update in a few months if the plant improves.

Update
 

Hi everyone,

Here are some updated pictures of this plant. As you can see most of the canes have shriveled up and there are no new roots or growths, BUT there is something tiny growing at the top of one of the canes :) Can someone please confirm whether this is a keiki? If so, what should be the next step for this plant?

Since the original post I have kept the plant on top of a fish tank (to raise humidity) in a relatively dark room and pretty much forgot about it. Should I keep it where it is or would it be better to give the plant some sunlight?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I think the lower of the two does look like a keiki as you can see the tiny root nubbins stating to show.

I'm not sure if you should move it now, hopefully someone else can chime in. If you DO move it to higher sunlight do it slowly a bit at a time. If it has been in low light it will scorch if it suddenly goes in to bright light.

Those are indeed Keikis. The plant is giving a last ditch effort to save itself. I would get a shallow dish and put some damp (not wet) sphag in it and lay the canes horizontally. This will encourage the Keikis to send roots out and down into the sphag moss. Once they are large enough you can separate them from the parent and pot them up on their own. You'll want to wait until you have a cumulative root length of 4-6 inches before you remove them. You may also find that the parent canes will send out more than 2 Keikis by laying them in moss.

:agree: and :goodluck: Keep us updated!

You are keeping the plant in the dark. Plants don't grow in the dark, especially dendrobiums. They need a great deal of light. Try to get the plant into a lot more light, not necessarily sun, but as much light as you can give it. As soon as you see an indication of growth, keep increasing the light gradually.

Done. The canes are now lying on a bed of sphagnum moss with access to dim sunlight. I will slowly introduce it to brighter light. The reason that I put the plant in a dark room was because it had lost all of its leaves, so I figured it wouldn't be able to photosynthesize anyway... and plus it got depressing watching the plant wither away so I had to hide it and forget about it :blushing:

Here are some pics of the keiki. Its only been a few days but the roots are looking more defined and I can see a baby leaf:)

Thank you everyone for the advice. I will update again in a few months.