Blooming Tolumnias or equitant oncidiums

[Paph]

Love them all!

[geoblue]

I've had some beautiful tolumnia over the last 5 years... My fave was this beautiful red one. It actually won a medal in Miami , and a trophy at Ormond Beach a few years ago......Onc Elfin Charm 'Hula Dancer' x Rdcm Radiant Charm. The flowers that Spring (2007) were about 1.1 inch across and a very deep red. Of course the next year it came out with ' fascination on quite a few flowers- so it didn't go to any shows. last year I tried dividing it as it had massively outgrown the pot and lost it. When will I learn.... never ever move or repot them when they are doing well.....
I live in a hot zone, so I keep them on the east side of my greenhouse ( morning sun) up high, daily water.... they do best in small clay pots growing in charcoal chunks. If you want to get darker bloom colors I have found that they can even grow in a slightly shadier location... I stored a tray for a local grower for a month or so and they all burst into bloom with large stems and dark color flowers. ( auto fertilizer in the water helps...). I have about a dozen now in various places and 3 of the ones hanging in the upper east quadrant are in bloom. In January.

[EMos]

They are all very beautiful Yew, it's good u finally found the appropriate care for them

[catttan]

Yes, Eric. The secret it seems is not to overpot them. They seem to do well bare root in small open plastic pots or tied to drift-wood. I mist them twice a day; in the morning and late afternoon. It is important that the roots dry out quite quickly.

I fell in love with them (equitant oncidiums, as they were called then) in the mid-sixties after seeing pictures of them in a Hawaiian catalogue esp of Tolu pulchellum. Later a friend imported some from Hawaii and one of the earlier crosses was Onc Little Chickadee. And from that time onwards the general name we gave to tolumnia crosses was .... little chickadees. A very apt name for the cute little things, I think!

[EMos]

Thanks for the additional info Yew. I've always been fascinated by them too since I've seen pictures in some books, but I still think that I can't venture growing them due to lack of the appropriate growing conditions, and time may be...
At least I can appreciate them through other people's effort.

[smartie2000]

I love the Genting Orange and Sniffen!

[catttan]

Geoblue, your tolu is really beautiful. No wonder it won a prize. My genting Orange and Sniffen are still in bloom.

[geoblue]

Thanks Cattan. I have never seen a Genting Orange... we have lots of Genting "pink" and 'violet' at the local shows.... Your plant is beautiful!!

I have a Golden Sunset still in bloom... but its soooo cold here this week (again!)

[zainal abidin]

Multicolor and awesome variation of blooms. Such a heart warming photos to be seen

[catttan]

Geoblue, when you mentioned Golden Sunset it brought back pleasant memories as I used to have a few of these many moons ago. Alas they have all gone to a place where all good tolumnias go - and I do miss them!