Den. Lorrie Mortimer Help
 

Hi everyone. I have a Lorrie Mortimer seedling that has leaves that are looking strange. Although the leaves seem to be wilting, I'm wondering if there's a possibility that this is deciduous, so the leaves are dropping.

I just got this plant this last spring. Although I hate to see it go downhill, it otherwise seems to be okay.

I'm just looking for some more experienced eyes and opinions to guide me.

The images are below. I made the backgrounds transparent to focus on the plant and how it looks. I left its name stake to help. This is all I have for its identification.

Thank you for any advice

Hey c123anderson,

Unfortunately I dont think your Den. is a deciduous one. It looks to be an 'antelope' type which get similar culture the phalenopsis dendrobiums.

Other know much more about this (I don't have any dens), hopefully they can chime in and let you know how to help your plant.

In the meantime here is a link to another thread on this site about your plant:

Den Lorrie Mortimer - Orchid Board - Most Complete Orchid Forum on the web !

The photos are a little fuzzy, but I can see it hasn't had enough water. The moss is dry. It may have spider mites.

The antelope group Dens should not dry out. They like to be evenly moist and warm all year, with bright light. Seedling Dens are even less tolerant of drying out. If you've been letting it dry between waterings that could be part of the problem.

If there are dying patches on the leaves you probably have spider mites. I would spray the entire plant and medium surface with one of two things: Either a dilute liquid dish soap solution, about 1/2-1 tsp per quart; or, 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol. Repeat this every 4-5 days for 3-4 treatments. Do some more reading here on Orchid Board on spider mites.

Are you fertilizing? Sphagnum has no nutrients. It won't grow without fertilizer. Any fertilizer with the three numbers close to each other could be used, at half the dose recommended on the label.

Thank you for the information. I hadn't even thought of spider mites. Yes, the moss is dry. I am trying different things to keep the moisture up, but it seems I'm not doing enough.

I will review the information on spider mites. I hadn't even thought of that. And, yes, I have been fertilizing.

Thanks!

It needs watering more often. Little Dendrobiums can use a lot of water. Depending on the temperatures I could see watering one of these in a 2" net pot every other day, or even every day.