I think I killed it my orchid ... or have I?

This is one of the first orchids I got about 5 mths ago. It had spider mites, (and to be honest I had no idea what that was til I got into orchids), I took some samples to an orchid breeder and she told me what to do. Quick run down; I thought it was a cattleya from what the nursery that I got it from told me, I treated it as a cattleya orchid. Slight moisture which meant wetting once a week in my area, , repotted it in bark/perlite/clay balls. Gave it a baby shot of 20-20-20 every 2-3 weeks and I put fresh Osmocote to it every 2 months. The colour went from a pale green to a slightly deeper green and the leaves became firmer. Now it's never quite looked plump like pictures I've found since discovering this site and finding out its a oncidum of some sort. Now I need you pros to help me figure out what I'm suddenly doing wrong. It's rainy season here so the temp fluctuates between 28 - 32 deg C and I've realized the bark retains the moisture more than usual, I kept it on a north-easterly window sill up until it started looking poorly again.

Nope, not dead yet. It does look over potted though. Could have root damage.

cheers,
BD

There had origionally been three pbulbs but the other two completely shrivled up and I cut them off, it was the only pot I had at the time to put it in. But is it an oncidium? And was I doing the right things for it? Thanks for the advice I'll put it in a smaller pot tomorrow.

I agree it might be overpotted. May also have been underwatered before you got it, causing the shrivelling. No worries, though. It will get over it. Looks like you have a new pseudobulb coming in which is a very good sign. If it's actively growing I would down-pot to coarse bark and water every few days. I'm also assuming it's an oncidium or odontocidium, but I'm certainly no ID expert. Good job so far!
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An orchid with new green growth is going to be fine. I agree with the overpotting...and if the old roots are bad you can just cut them off and let the new pbulbs give you new roots. These plants join to each other with a kind of umbilical cord and once the new growth gets big enough they sort of share nutrients. That big old growth will shrivel as the new growth gets bigger and healthier. Hang in there, be patient and avoid overwatering. You'll find out when it blooms what kind of oncidium you have. In the meantime i'd recommend a trip to a nursery and get yourself a healthy oncidium in bloom to enjoy while the rescue plant recuperates. Best of luck...

Originally Posted by Cjcorner

An orchid with new green growth is going to be fine. I agree with the overpotting...and if the old roots are bad you can just cut them off and let the new pbulbs give you new roots. These plants join to each other with a kind of umbilical cord and once the new growth gets big enough they sort of share nutrients. That big old growth will shrivel as the new growth gets bigger and healthier. Hang in there, be patient and avoid overwatering. You'll find out when it blooms what kind of oncidium you have. In the meantime i'd recommend a trip to a nursery and get yourself a healthy oncidium in bloom to enjoy while the rescue plant recuperates. Best of luck...

What a co-winkydink you said some thing about shopping. I just happened to go to a sale and what do you know...:

Well, la-te-da, whadoya know, it has a little root peeking out. (Forgot to take a pic for you guys to see) I am glad that I asked you all what to do because I would have never seen that. As a matter of fact, almost all the roots were basically dead, so I gave it a hair cut. Thank you for the advice!