Help with my new orchids

[thefastestslug]

Hey all. I recently inhereted some orchids from a friend who was not caring for them well. I need some ba sic help from you because I have never owned either of these types of orchids before.

The first is a zygopetalum. It seems to be in okay shape but a couple of the pseudobulbs look wrinkled. Is that a sign of dehydration? I keep it in an eastern window and am not letting it dry out. Is that right??

From what I can tell, the other two are either Miltoniposis or Miltonia (I don't know the diff.) One of them was looking like it was about to bloom when I inhereted it, but now the flowers are drying. They were almost all the way open and now they are dying off. Sad. The other was in icky shape, but I've repotted it and set it in a Southern window. As of yet, I have not let either of them dry out. Should I?

I repotted the zygopetalum and the miltonia that was not in bloom into the same orchid mixture I use for my paph and my phals. I have not repotted the one that was about to bloom. My medium is a coconut chip mixture. Should I repot in a better medium or is that okay?

I guess I just need some basic info on how to get the best out of these new guys. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[orchidaddict789]

Hi!

About your zygo, if a few of pbulbs are wrinkled I would guess it is fine (provided that the pbulbs are older ones, of course). Older bulbs tend to become wrinkled and less fat than newly matured ones--this is okay. But if a majority (or all) of bulbs are wrinkled (even newer ones) then the plant may be either dehydrated or root-rotted. Be careful with watering...some people water their orchids too much because they want to "fatten" up the bulbs, in turn overwatering. Since you said "a couple of bulbs" I guess you're fine.

Miltoniopsis and Miltonias are different, of course, the former from Columbia and the latter from Brazil. Miltoniopsis are those "pansy orchids" with the really big petals. They have many leaves on each growth and each growth's clustered closer together. They're cool growing plants, originating from higher elevations. Miltonias are more related to oncidiums (their flowers sometimes resemble oncs more), and are warm growing. I've seen miltoniopsis plants called miltonias, and vice versa. What a lot of confusion!

The dying of flowers may be caused by stress by the move. Different environments take a toll on orchid flowers. I think so unless the orchid has some sort of serious health problem that it can't support flowers...

I thought milts (not sure which one) like fine mix because of fine roots. As long as the mix is fine enough.

Good luck with your orchids!