Watering the Oncids....

[orchid-man]

uncasteeb,I never grow Oncidium flexuosum in a pot as it will have grown out within 1 season and they flower 2 times per year (late summer and late winter).
Here a couple of shots of one of my plants,it has about six spikes on it .

[Piper]

Good God, Murray! That plant could devour New York City! No, I can't imagine a pot that could contain it...

Jen, if your plant isn't getting enough water (the p-bulbs are telling you that), it won't bloom. Consider a potting mixture that will provide more moisture, or simply water more. If it's that dry where you are, you won't rot it the roots if the mixture allows good air access. Is S/H an option? I don't use it, but it does provide water as the plant needs it. Maybe it wouldn't work in an arid environment. My Onc Alliance guys go nuts in sphag, but I'm in New England. And with the hot weather we've been having, I'm watering constantly (they're all in clay pots), and it's making me a bit crazy.

Just some thoughts.

Julie

[mtequine]

LOL Julie....that plant of Murray's is huge, I hadn't thought of it devouring a whole city!

I'm watering these guys 2-3 times a week which seems like a lot....but obviously it's not enough. Also, before last weekend when I actually started thinking about this, I had been just watering them where they sit, instead of hauling them to the sink for a really good soaking. They're potted in plastic, mostly, and a bark mixture.

I had one of my poor do-ers in a plastic pot with sphag for a while, little/no improvement in the p-bulb and I found I didn't have to water often.

Will do some checking into S/H....might be worth some experimenting on. Wonder if theres' anyone in the west/arid environment who's having luck with it.

Thanks for the thoughts!

Jenny

[orchid-man]

Good God, Murray! That plant could devour New York City! No, I can't imagine a pot that could contain it...

Jen, if your plant isn't getting enough water (the p-bulbs are telling you that), it won't bloom. Consider a potting mixture that will provide more moisture, or simply water more. If it's that dry where you are, you won't rot it the roots if the mixture allows good air access. Is S/H an option? I don't use it, but it does provide water as the plant needs it. Maybe it wouldn't work in an arid environment. My Onc Alliance guys go nuts in sphag, but I'm in New England. And with the hot weather we've been having, I'm watering constantly (they're all in clay pots), and it's making me a bit crazy.

Just some thoughts.

Julie

Julie ,that plant isnt huge.
A friend on mine here in Auckland has 3 of thes plants ,each with over3 dozen spikes and the plants are about 1.5 meters in diamiter.

[jrod]

So far, I've seen that the back bulbs on my Oncidium and Brassias seem to stay a bit wrinkled once they get wrinkled. The new pbulbs I've got coming in are full and wrinkle-free. I wonder if this is similar to what you're seeing. Is what I'm seeing common, or is there a way to plump up those back bulbs that I need to be working on?

[orchid-man]

So far, I've seen that the back bulbs on my Oncidium and Brassias seem to stay a bit wrinkled once they get wrinkled. The new pbulbs I've got coming in are full and wrinkle-free. I wonder if this is similar to what you're seeing. Is what I'm seeing common, or is there a way to plump up those back bulbs that I need to be working on?

What you are seeing with those plants of yours is normal,They do wrinklr with age and stay that way.