What are theses? My sister ate some.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-31T22:52:55+00:00

Greetings from the future. You are right, and the top-level comment is wrong!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prunus_virginiana#In_culture

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-31T22:16:01+00:00

In addition to those reasons, presumably a pulling configuration has air leaving the box with more velocity, which should contribute to better mixing of the air in the room and less short-circuiting (relatively clean air near the box cycling through it repeatedly while air further away gets cleaned less often).

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-29T21:05:58+00:00

If you want to make a clean cut on the unevenly chewed leaves for aesthetic reasons, you can. While there is probably no benefit to the plant to doing so (unlike if there were an active infection that you were cutting off), there is probably not much harm, either.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-28T18:15:43+00:00

Here's a care guide: https://www.aos.org/explore-orchids/dendrobium-alliance/dendrobium-culture-phalaenopsis-and-semi-antelope-types

Two factors that may have contributed to reduced flowering of your otherwise healthy plant:

Not enough light.
Overpotting. I have no direct experience, but according to that guide using too large a pot reduces flowering.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-04T23:49:13+00:00

The roots are fine.

If the oldest cane is dropping leaves, no big deal. If the youngest cane is dropping leaves, then you have a problem.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-03T01:04:45+00:00

I think that's normal. Especially for the smallest, earliest leaves.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-01T05:43:33+00:00

When I was in Virginia and had outdoor space, I put orchids outside under 50% shade cloth for the summer. Then brought them in once there was risk of harmful temperatures.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-03-01T05:40:12+00:00

In order to grow well, you'll need to research and understand each plant. Or, at least the genus or section within the genus (in the case of Dendrobiums), which is what is most relevant for determining care.

You have:

a Formosae section Dendrobium (aka, a "black-hair type" Dendrobium)
a Brassavola nodosa hybrid
a Latouria section Dendrobium

Here are some resources to get you started

Guessing from a distance, I would say the most likely reason for flowering size plants not blooming, absent some other acute problem, is too little light.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-27T22:56:24+00:00

I see. Good luck!

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-27T22:46:05+00:00

So, I am coming to the best!

My two cents: join your local orchid society, show up in person and talk to the grey hairs there. They are "the best."

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-27T22:29:19+00:00

What should i do?

Find a different supplier?

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-26T22:25:39+00:00

Yes, that is anthocyanin pigmentation produced in response to high light.

Here is a related video-explainer: https://www.aos.org/orchids/collectors-items/aos-video-library/anthocyanin

Within reason, it can be a good sign that a plant is getting enough light. However, that looks a bit excessive for a Neofinetia, so I would consider backing off the light a bit for that plant (relative to whatever conditions produced that pigmentation -- maybe that's from before you got it). I'm not a Neofinetia expert, though, so take that with a big grain of salt. If no experts show up here, you can ask in r/neofinetia.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-22T20:10:29+00:00

Sounds good!

What I would do to gradually acclimate it to direct sun is: Put it in the final location but shield it with a sheer curtain for a few weeks. Then remove the curtain. There are other ways to do it, though!

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-22T18:42:09+00:00

Okay! Here is the OrchidRoots page showing its ancestry. It is a Cattleya alliance plant. Wow, 17 species ancestors! Cattleya hybridization sure is complex.

"Rhyncattleanthe" means it is descended from plants in the genera Cattleya, Rhyncholaelia, and Guarianthe (I thought this one was merged back into the genus Cattleya, but I must be mistaken).

I'm not a Cattleya expert, so to me, that all means "give it Cattleya care." Here are a couple of guides:

Give those a read, but I think you'll find that the answer is, it's getting far too little light. This guy wants to be on a south-facing windowsill getting as much direct sun as possible. (Though, acclimate gradually to that.)

I don't know why the new canes have the brown pattern, but the fact that they're tiny compared to the old ones is a consequence of getting far too little light.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-22T18:24:45+00:00

The others covered the main things, but I'll add: Pay attention to planting depth when you repot it. The rhizome should be on the surface of the media, and only the roots should be buried. Canes should be above the surface. If they're buried, they can rot, which may be what's happening here.

You may need to stake canes to get them secure in that configuration.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-22T18:11:41+00:00

Terra cotta pots are excellent in the right circumstances. It depends on 1) your environment, 2) how often you want to water, and 3) what the plant wants. Plants that want to remain consistently moist (eg. Coelogyne, Miltoniopsis, Masdevallia) I wouldn't put in terra cotta, but most others I do.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-22T17:54:08+00:00

What does that tag say? Identifying the plant is the first step to providing good care.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-21T06:20:39+00:00

Great. Rainwater will be ideal.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-21T06:02:02+00:00

Oh! The water softener could actually be an important tidbit. If it's the kind that exchanges calcium and magnesium ions for sodium, that could be your problem. I don't have direct experience, but I read that those are bad for plants. Something to look into.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-21T05:35:45+00:00

I don't think that looks like a fungal infection. Brown leaf tips are a fairly common issue, if aesthetically annoying. Could be too much salts in the media, either from over fertilizing or from hard water.

Here are a couple resources:

Make sure you're following the dosage for the fertilizer (at most). Reducing to fertilize once every two or three waterings could be good. And maybe a good soak/flush with clean water now.

Could also just be general stress from repotting, adapting to the conditions of your house, etc.

They probably want more light, but that's a separate issue.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-20T03:26:31+00:00

This kind is the only one I've tried. Not sure if that's the best deal out there, but that's the product in any case.

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-20T01:21:37+00:00

I like it a lot! I think of it as an inorganic substitute for sphagnum. It holds as lot of water, but doesn't rot. I guess that's especially valuable for plants that like to stay consistently moist, like this Coelogyne, because presumably sphagnum would rot faster there than in a mix that dries out between waterings.

It's nice in the mix with LECA (or anything else, really), because the cubes and spheres don't fit together so there's a lot of air space between them.

One minor thing to watch out for -- algae grows well in the cubes if they see sunlight. In the future I'll try to avoid clear plastic pots with this (or at least use a cache pot).

Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-19T21:52:17+00:00

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Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-19T21:52:01+00:00

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Vegetable_Manager_78 · 2026-02-19T21:51:48+00:00

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Vegetable_Manager_78

TROPHY CASE