primulinum Q
 

So I have this Dend primulinum that is in a very sorry as state, as you can see by the :photo: . I bought it last summer from a lady at a show and since this was a species that I really wanted, I snapped it up pretty quickly:biggrin: . However, the plant was/is potted in regular soil and the lady selling the plant cut off every old cane after it bloomed:shock: :_( , can you beleive it?!?!?!?! My purchase then became a rescue operation. I figured I would repot this spring when there was new growth and I would never cut off old canes:roll: !! Anyway, I thought these plants liked a dormant winter so I treated it like my anosmum and I stopped watering completely around the beginning of November. It lost its leaves and has changed one bit since then!! My question is, should I spag and bag this guy or wait a while longer (a few weeks??) to see if it does anything? Im worried because the base of the stem has turned yellow and looks like the base of the other stems that were severed. Any thoughts??:scratchhead:

P.S. Was the dormancy I gave to harsh?? Also, at the end of the cane is a blemish because Im an idiot and stepped on the cane, so the last four inches or so are probably going to be cut off when they start to go.

Steve that is sooo sad! Poor thing! :_( I think if it were mine, and I lived in Hawaii ;) , I'd take this opportunity to mount this guy. Jays says it likes cool nights year round and copious amounts of water when it starts new growth. It's deciduous so losing leaves is normal. It's supposed to bloom from a bald cane. Needs very bright light 2500-3000 fc. Needs a cool dry winter to promote flowering. I think if you mount it you'll see a dramatic change. :goodluck:

I wonder if the lady who cut all the canes off was doing stem propagation? If all else fails you could always try that!

In soil?! :shock: And she cut the canes off?! :faint: Was she selling it at an orchid show? What did she think it was? A chrysanthemum? They shouldn't have allowed her near the sale tables IMO. I had a Den. nobile hybrid that did the yellowing-from-the-base-thing. I could never prevent it from spreading all the way up the pseudobulb. It seemed to be a lignification response of some kind. The only remedy was to remove that bit entirely. Judging from your picture, I'd sphag and bag the remaining green nodes and pray for keikis. :pray: I don't think you did anything bad - it was all due to the ignorance of the previous owner!

[QUOTE=orchidhunter;99755]In soil?! :shock: And she cut the canes off?! :faint: Was she selling it at an orchid show? What did she think it was? A chrysanthemum? They shouldn't have allowed her near the sale tables IMO. [QUOTE]

:rofl: :rofl: I agree completely!! Im glad that I might be able to get off the hook with this one and say it wasnt my fault...:evil:, though Im still wondering if I gave it too rough of a winter dormancy. I think I will have to spag n bag it, but I like terri's idea of a mount. I might have to compromise and put it in a hanging basket though. The wind where I live never stops so everything dries out pretty quickly here. Unless I could find some tree fern....:hmm Anyway, thanks for the input!! Ill probably end up doing the spag n bag this weekend and hope for keikis.