Lovely Brassia Alliance orchid, but questioning tag

[zainal abidin]

I cant help the ID might be your search is right, I just admire the pretty yellow color on it.

[mauraec]

I'm starting to think it may be an unregistered Brassada hybrid, so I'll go with Brassada Tiger Tail until/unless I hear otherwise. Thanks for everyone's input.

Also, it's in a 2 1/2" square pot and has 9 growths - 5 full grown - and it's growing over the edges. Time to repot? If so, in what? I'm really not up on Brassadas and am not quite sure of their cultivation. Bear in mind I'm growing in a southern exposure window and a few growlights - no greenhouse, and no outside time.

Thanks again -

Maura

[cdayinflorida]

Maura, I grow mine in fern fiber, either small fern fiber baskets or I use the chunky pieces. They have such little thread like roots, it seems to suite them. They will crawl all over it.

[mauraec]

Maura, I grow mine in fern fiber, either small fern fiber baskets or I use the chunky pieces. They have such little thread like roots, it seems to suite them. They will crawl all over it.

Thanks, Cathy - I'm gradually getting a handle on this and this helps. How deep and wide are your baskets? If you ever have a chance (haha) to post a picture of how you have yours situated, I think it would help me out even more. One of the problems I'm having with this Brsa is that it's very tall (about 18+" - without an infloresecence) and is very top heavy and unbalanced. I can't seem to stake it enough to stand up on its own - it's still sort of leaning against one of my big catt pots. Also, would you suggest that I "pot up" from the 2 1/2" pot it's in now, divide it, repot it entirely, or anything else you can think of. As I said earlier, it has 4 large, mature pseudobulbs and 5 new ones ranging between 3" and 7" tall. I honestly couldn't tell you what medium it's in now, because there's hardly any left, and all I can make out is a few small bark pieces and some small-medium perlite nuggets. Except for my vanda, I pretty much grow all my orchids in terra cotta pots, in whatever size fir bark is needed, plus perlite and charcoal - and EVERY SINGLE one of them is coming inside today, except for the cym, which I'm watching very closely as nights get closer to below 40 here - so, I wonder if fern fiber would really change my routine (water, light, humidity, etc). I bought some small coconut fiber husks while I was up in New England - would some mix of that work, do you think? I've never used it before.

Thanks so much for the time and effort -

Maura

[Jose R. Nieves]

Maura:
i would stick the media you already are using. Next size pot would be 4 inches. Coconut fiber is good but it retains more moisture than bark. Integeneric oncidiae hybrids like to be a little bit crowded. Lovely flower.
Jose

[willemjvr]

Nice colour.

[Dorsetman]

Actually, the difference between Ada and Brassia is so small that some species could easily go in either genus. Maybe one day they will all be Brassias. But I think there is something else in there in this particular case , I don't think Miltonia ( not Miltassia) but maybe Oncidium ( which gives a very large field to go at - making a Brassidium probably). Tiger Tail is not a registered name, but we all know some vendors just make up a name and put it on . Maybe they don't know about registration , or maybe they just don't care - 99% of their customers won't , in fact in Europe it is not uncommon for plants to be very helpfully labelled as "orchid" - unless you buy from a good "real" orchid nursery. So I am afraid we may never know . Even guessing at the parents is unreliable if it is a multi-generation hybrid - I poaused in this to think of Brassada Bert Field which is simiar colouring, but not the right shape ( I posted a pic of that in this forum within the past year) - but when I look at the parents of that one, it is impossible to see the colour or the shape at all. The only safe label is - I fear - "Oncidiniae hybrid" !

[mauraec]

Actually, the difference between Ada and Brassia is so small that some species could easily go in either genus. Maybe one day they will all be Brassias. But I think there is something else in there in this particular case , I don't think Miltonia ( not Miltassia) but maybe Oncidium ( which gives a very large field to go at - making a Brassidium probably). Tiger Tail is not a registered name, but we all know some vendors just make up a name and put it on . Maybe they don't know about registration , or maybe they just don't care - 99% of their customers won't , in fact in Europe it is not uncommon for plants to be very helpfully labelled as "orchid" - unless you buy from a good "real" orchid nursery. So I am afraid we may never know . Even guessing at the parents is unreliable if it is a multi-generation hybrid - I poaused in this to think of Brassada Bert Field which is simiar colouring, but not the right shape ( I posted a pic of that in this forum within the past year) - but when I look at the parents of that one, it is impossible to see the colour or the shape at all. The only safe label is - I fear - "Oncidiniae hybrid" !

Believe it or not, I looked up the nursery information on the helpful "Orchid Plant" tag, emailed them, and have had an astonishing, prompt, and hopeful response. They recognized the handwriting on the small id tag that said "Brs Tiger Tail" as one of their growers who is currently at the Singapore conference. In the meantime, my contact at this nursery is going to forward pictures of the blooms to several of their local hybridizers to see if they are familiar with it. My first thought about the plant was that it was some sort of Brassidium - as you know, no registration, at least so far, but I looked at several photos of Brassada Orange Delight, which, while not matching the mystery plant, seemed rather similar. In any event, I have high hopes that in this unusual instance there may actually be a satisfactory resolution! I will report in as I know more.

[cdayinflorida]

Maura, I will take a picture this weekend for you. I had trouble with them staying to wet. When I moved mine over to fern fiber it worked for me.

[mauraec]

Maura, I will take a picture this weekend for you. I had trouble with them staying to wet. When I moved mine over to fern fiber it worked for me.

Thanks, Cathy - I still don't quite know what to do with this new plant, so I'm going to ponder it while I wait to find out more from the nursery - but I'll make sure not to keep it too wet!