Question
QUESTION: i received a dendrobium as a gift december 2007. at the time it was in full bloom. once the blooms died i repotted it. i noticed that the majority of the roots were dry and brown but the canes and leaves are healthy and green. any idea of why it has not bloomed in 15 months ? what should i do?

ANSWER: Allison, most types of dendrobiums, when not in active growth, should have little or no water. Hopefully this has been the case for your plant.  Dendrobiums that are watered or fed while at rest can either suffer root rot or put out new growth rather than flowering.

Secondly, there are two overall types of dendrobiums: nobile or cool growing typeand; phalaenopsis or warm growing type.  The cool growers tend to have their flowers along their canes while the warm growers flower at or near the top of the cane. If the warm growers are grown too cool, or the cool growers too warm, that could also retard flowering.  

Be careful to repot dendrobiums only when they have new growth and pot them tight in their pots so the canes are close to the edge of the pot and do not move in the pot.  Canes can be anchored by tying them securely to stakes anchored in the pot.

Finally, to flower, dendrobiums should have a lot of light, so find the brightest location you can.  You know you have enough light when the leaves are a light yellow-green.  If they are a dark green, the plant may not have been receiving enough light to set flowers.

Hope that gives you enough to go on.  Feel free to ask follow-up questions.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you so much for helping me figure this out. I think that mine is a warm grower, mainly because when it was blooming, the blooms were coming from the cane tops. I repotted it the other day into the original pot it came in, mainly because it seemed to fit tighter than with the other pot. How soon should I water it, how often and how much? I really want to see this beauty bloom. What kind of signs will the plant give me so I know when to expect blooms? Again thank you for all your previous advice.

Answer
Allison, some types of phalaenopsis dendrobiums bloom on old growth, some just on new growth.  Let's go with the latter.  Begin watering and feeding heavily as soon as you see new growth producing a new cane.  Until then, you should water lightly.  It may be summer before you get the new growth.