Dear all,
I am a Dutchman now and then buying flowering orchids (many nice variaties produced in greenhouses are offered in shops rather cheaply in the Netherlands). Last year I bought an Oncidium which beautifully flowered with many small yellow flowers having a brown heart. It is a variety very common here, I think a Oncidium fluxuosum Golden shower. I am trying to get flowers again, but do not succeed until now. After flowering last year I kept the plant with some water, orchid fertiliser and some chalk at 15 -20 "C, but not much happened. Then in June this year I put it out into the garden with dayly a few hours of full sun (!!), a temperature of 15 - 25 "C and a lot of rain. To my surprise the plant started growing vigorously, making several new shoots and white roots, partly above ground (see picture). As it is getting to cold now I have taken it inside again at 15 - 20 "C. I feel that I am on the brink of succes getting flowers, but what should I do now to succeed (water/no water? fertiliser/no fertiliser? which temperature? larger pot with new orchid soil?)
Thanks in advance
Louis harmsen
Help !!
The picture of my Oncidium got somehow lost.
Below I try again.....
This message was edited Oct 27, 2004 4:13 PM
Looks pretty healthy. Did it bloom around this time last year? If so, you might see spikes beginning to form in a couple of weeks. (For some oncidiums, the night temperature drop in autumn triggers blooming. It depends which one you have.) I would not repot it now, as that might prevent it from blooming. If a lot of the roots are in the air and you do not have much humidity, you could either spray those roots or temporarily put another pot next to it so those roots have somewhere to go. Give it light and water it so that it stays relatively moist. It probably doesn't need any fertilizer at this point, but some people might give it a weak bloom-booster fertilizer (low in nitrogen, high in phosphorous).
Hi Louis.
Your plant looks healthy and happy. I wouldn't worry to much about the roots hanging out of the pot. They should be OK if you don't let them dry out. Just water as usual and maybe mist them if they look dry. You should get a spike or 2 out of the new pseudobulbs very soon. I think Golden Showers has branches of blooms off the spike. You will probably need to support it. Do you have enough light? Some of my orchids didn't rebloom until I got fluorescents to put above them. Now they bloom once sometimes twice a year. Good luck.
Yes, yes....
Yesterday I saw 2 strong spikes sprouting vigorously from the pseudobulbs. They look great. Assuming the plant will start flowering, two more questions.
1. Should I fertilise during flowering?
2. What to do after the flowers have gone?
Thanks for your advice
Louis Harmsen
Good news.
I usually fertilize with a weak solution while the spikes and buds are forming. When the buds are developed, I stop fertilizing, but continue to water as usual.
After the flowers are done, you can cut the spikes. You can wait until they dry up and turn brown on their own, or you can do it earlier.
Then look for new pseudobulbs to start forming. When they start to put out new roots is the best time to repot.
I use 1/4 strength fertilizer like 19-31-17 for the entire flowering cycle then switch to the 1/4 str. 8-7-6 when the flowering is done. It works brilliant on all my Oncidiums particularly the Sharri Baby and Golden Showers.- Bagpypr
My onc has roots above the potting line too, ALOT of them.
To get it to rebloom, is he supossed to cut the spike off below the section where it flowered?
I purchased a beautiful archid a few months back, and since the flower died I cut back the stem to where it came out of the root like the directions said, how long does it take for a new bloom to star
It depends on the orchid. For Oncidiums, the new spike will come from a new pseudobulb. So you have to wait for a new one to form and hope it puts out a spike. For Phals, which don't have pseudobulbs, sometimes you can cut the spike below the lowest flower and it will put out a side spike and rebloom. I think that's what Micha was referring to. Sometimes you get a keiki instead of blooms.
Exactly what I was referring to. I'm still learning but I'm getting there!