Thank you, Richard. Information like this is hard to come by and so helpful to those of us who have never seen a spike emerge on this kind of orchid. It's also interesting to know that the first spike will come up on the larger leaf/sheath side!

Sc

Thanks so much for this info. Several months ago, I bought a beallara at the local grocery. It has stopped blooming, and I now have a new pb starting. I have not repotted it as the info that I can find says to wait until you see new roots, which I haven't. All the old pb's are severely wrinkled. Is there any chance of them plumping back up, or is this typical for mature pb's? The newest pb is quite plump and smooth. TIA, Boyne

I'd like to know the answer about the wrinkled pb's too. I see lots of orchids at the garden center that have been divided and they have wrinkled pb's, so apparently it's OK to sell them like that.

No, they don't unwrinkle. Or so I was told. In my experience that is the case, but I am not perfect with watering, so if I hadn't been told so, I would've been a frustrated Beallara grower. My Beallara is sending roots up into the air, around the newest pb's, so I'd start looking for them there. I enjoyed repotting it into a clear pot, as it's easy to see what's going on... it's fun seeing these thin little roots that look like styrofoam take up water and look alive again.

What I'm curious about is if you can prevent them from going wrinkled in the first place, or if that is just inevitable. I'm starting to be more organized and keep a chart of when I am watering things, so I don't have to play the guessing game of when things got watered last, which is helping me keep on top of watering properly.

Richard, is that a good strategy for young plants, to let it bloom but cut off the spike early? I don't have any young plants, but I do run across stressed plants that have shrunk down to look more like young plants. I might try it with a rescue sometime.

Seeing the title includes trivia....the correct name of the orchid according to the RHS is Odontocidium Wildcat. A renaming that has been mostly ignored by the orchid growing community world wide.

I have some 80 mixed orchids from two orchid nurseries that i am going to use as raffle and lucky dip prizes at a local orchid society meeting. In this lot of orchids various orchids of the Oncidiinae Sub-Tribe are mostly potted in a less arid mixture than the "Cattleyas" .

The last thing anyone should/would want to do is to have various watering routines for mixed collections of orchids. Far better to vary the mix and the pot size so that you can water nearly everything at the same time.

Of course, there are exceptions not all Oncidiinae need a non-arid mix... one example is Tolumnia.

Easier said than done. Part of this reason is that I am including non-orchids in my watering chart. That being said, I do have watering groupings. My first case/tank gets watered almost daily, fertilized maybe twice a week. They are almost all mounties, with a couple fast drying potted ones. I use my judgment, if it looks damp, it waits a day. My second case probably gets watered every other day. The next grouping is my other orchids and African violets. The last grouping is the succulents. Well, the very last grouping is houseplants in the rest of the house.

The cases are easy. It's hard to forget to water those. The rest are where I lose track of time and forget when I watered them last. Mainly, days go by faster than I think they do, and when I feel like I just watered them, usually a week's gone by. The chart is just keeping me more grounded in reality, rather than relying on my perception of time.

When did that renaming occur? All these renamings are confusing...

To answer quinnfyre's last question, it's been a few years at least and this is not the only one that people haven't corrected, simply the most common one.

As for wrinkly pseudobulbs, a good watering regime and high relative humidity will help, but remember that the prime purpose of a pseudobulb is to be a storage tank. The plant uses it if and when it needs it. It's also a question of genetics. Some plants simply have nice round PBs, some don't.

Julie

P.S. Arthur's comment about simplifying watering in general are well placed, especially as your collections grow. I now have a Darwinian approach to my orchids and houseplants - only the tough that thrive with my growing conditions and habits will stay in my collections and be joined by other similar-minded plants. The rest hit the road (aka members' sales tables at the show or the raffle table) or the garbage bin. You really have to wow me to get special care and there's only one "special care" tray... It was tough at first, but I'm much happier with my collection now and everything is growing and blooming nicely.

I think this is good advice for most orchids, whether cuttings, divisions or young plants, if the flower spike does not look as if it is going to do much, it is better to cut it off and let the plant gain more strength.

Oncidium fuscatum is also known as Miltonia warscewiczii. You would have to be a botanist to know why the RHS accepted Oncidium fuscatum as the correct name but when they did some Genera names changed in their database.

Seeing Oncidium fuscatum is used as a parent in some 122 registered hybrids you can see the possible number of changes.

Not to worry!

As far as the wrinkly pseudobulbs go....none of my Oncidium Intergenerics look as good as Richards. But they did improve in looks and flowering when i changed the mixture to retain moisture a little longer.

I have no idea what this is as the tag was lost last year. Two spikes which are full of buds. No fragrance. I keep this one cool and damp all the time.

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Second spike, from smaller side of the pbulb, is still growing and hasn't started flowering yet. This plant puts on quite a show.

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Any guesses?

Jane

It is an Oncidium Intergeneric Noid. LOl.

Lovely growing. Perhaps has Oncidium fuscatum as an ancestor seeing they used that orchid to increase the flower count and add colour variation.

What do you fertilize with? My husband just brought me home an Oncidium 'Sharry Baby' and I'm not sure what to feed her. She smells so sweet!

Jane, I have no idea about your plant having just started with my first oncidium, but it is truly lovely! Boyne

Arthur, funny! It really had a name, of sorts, but is now just a NOID! Actually, this NOID will go to auction next month. This plant is in a small, 4" pot in sphag and is really small for the amount of flowers it has. One can only wonder what it would have done with some proper care. It was really neglected and still flowered its head off.

As far as fertilizer, I fertilize very little - when I remember to. Because I use RO and rain water over winter, I use MSU for RO when I do fertilize. In summer, I use the hose and whatever fertilizer my husband is using on his roses. Usually Miracle Grow for roses. I never fertilize anything in bloom.

Jane