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March 29-30, 2008
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Another dendrobium
This picture shows two of the plants that have been removed from their pots.
Now we see why these are rescue orchids. Right at the top of the pot was a layer of fresh bark. This is used to hide the condition of the bark underneath which has broken down. Inside of the old bark is a big lump of coconut husk.
Coconut husk is used for growing the young plants and can work under the right conditions. However, once the bark was added, the dendrobium started to deteriorate.
It may have been this stress that triggered the blooming. Orchids are survivors and will often use up thier last bit of energy to bloom in order to start the new generation from the seeds.
Move your mouse pointer over the words on the picture for more details.
Once all of the old bark and coconut husk is cleaned off, we see that the roots are in bad shape. There are a few roots on the surface, but all the roots below are rotted away. 
The pot on the right is the one the plant arrived in. On the left is the plant's new home. The pot size is chosen to fit the living roots, not the size of the plant. In normal repotting the plant is often put back in the same pot. For rescue orchids, have some smaller pots available. 
All four dendrobiums in their new pots. They are potted in granite to give the pot weight and to make sure that the pot dries out quickly. They were given a good watering during the cleanup process. Now they will be watered once a week to encourage new root growth. If they had been potted in a bark mix, watering would be every 2 weeks.