Pest battle with Dendrobium — and how I won

I had a serious problem with scale insects on pseudobulbs and undersides of leaves on my Dendrobium earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate wide hybridisation resulting in an almost unlimited colour range, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a bright bathroom with natural humidity and improved my attention to feeding with a half-strength orchid fertiliser weekly in summer. rest period in summer with focus on leaf and root growth was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.