Question
QUESTION: Hi Wayne,

I have the perfect container to place the phal in. Only I don't have anymore of the moss. Is there any substitute or should I just buy some?

I also have a white mini-phal which I mentioned before was purchased at Lowes. It was in excellent condition when I purchased it(stiff green leaves, grayish green roots, and nice blooms). It's blooms should last another month, after that I want to cut the spike so that it can flower in the fall. Before my mom killed it, I had an awesome yellow mini-phal whose blooms improved in color, fragrance, and size with each blooming cycle. I'm hoping to do the same for this white phal by having the yellow in the center spread to the petals. Do you have experience with this?

Thanks for the reassurance with the den! Since it's still early June the new cane should get bigger than the old one. I'm leaving it outside most of the time. Before I go to work I sometimes bring it inside to an east facing window to get morning sun, but it's normally siting on the porch where it's getting about 5 hours of afternoon sun. The leaves are getting noticeably bigger each week!

ANSWER: Theo, I'm not a great fan of growing in moss.  I prefer standard orchid growing mix based upon fir bark.  The orchid potting mix should be thoroughly soaked prior to use.

With regard to flower color, it is not unusual to have color flow inside the petals and sepals because the pigments are soluble.  While this is genetically determined, using plant food high in phosphorous, in the presence of good light, can result in deeper color pigments.  

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Odontoglossumoncidium   QUESTION: Hi Wayne,

So you probably don't remember, but I took your advice on placing the new phal plant coming out the the old mother plant's crown into a closed sealed container with wet medium to keep it humid. The fungus that was bothering it before ended up just killing in the container.

So I ended up getting another orchid at Trader Joe's--although I'm not sure whether it's an oncidium or a odontoglossum...either way it's really cool looking and I like it!! It seems to be a hybrid, being that it looks more like an odontoglossum (it has 5 larger outer petals and doesn't have a very broad lip) than an oncidium, but on the tag it's callled "oncidium alliance". It has egg shaped pseudo-bulbs  I did a little research on this last night to familiarize myself with the names, and the leaf and flower appearance.

I looked for in-depth accurate care guidelines online, but since the species is so diverse the care requirements seemed to differ from each flower. So I wanted to ask you, based on my description and the photo I sent, how do I take care of this plant? I read that it blooms in fall and some varieties can bloom again in spring. But mine is blooming in mid-summer, is this the norm??

As always, I look forward to hearing what you have to say about it.

-Theo

ANSWER: Theo, sorry about the phal.. It is always challenging to get conditions just right to grow an orchid inside a container.  I have had some limited success but still, probaly a 50-60% failure rate.

Unfortunately, it is unusual to get an accurate plant label at Trader Joe's and most other retailers. Your plant is in the Oncidium Alliance which includes Oncidiums, Odontoglossums, and many other genera.  What makes things even more complex is that the genera are interbred to produce intergeneric hybrids.  Thus, Oncidiums could be crossed with Odontoglossums producing an Odontocidium hybrid.  Even if we knew that your plant is an odontocidium, we are still a long way from knowing what species or hybrids were crossed to produce your plant.  A plant name could tell us that, if it is a registered cross.  Given that, it looks like a cool growing odontoglossum was crossed with a warm growing oncidium (not sure what other genera may have been involved with the cross). If so, the hybrid would prefer intermediate conditions.

Repot this plant when new growth appears.  Until that happens, keep it on the dry side. Because we don't know the species or crosses that went into this plant, it is a shot in the dark as to when new growth or flowering is likely.  The best you have to go on is that, since it is flowering now, you could expect it to re-flower about the same time next year.  It will like more light than a phalaenopsis.  Avoid the tendency that we all have to keep the potting mix too wet as this will rot out the roots and  pseudobulb-- resulting in the loss of the plant.  Reflowering will come from, and follow, new growth, so feed and water the new growth heavily when it begins.  

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QUESTION: Wayne,

Thanks for clearing that up! I did some more research on odontocidiums and not only do their flowers look the most similar to the one I have, much of them say that since it's a hybrid/intergenera it can tolerate a wide range of temperatures. The light requirements and fertilizing seem to remain the same. A lot of them also say that they have the potential to reflower twice a year! But I wont be too disappointed if it only does once.

One thing I've noticed is that when I purchased it there was only one flower in bloom, but now most of them have opened. The flowers closest to the end of the spike seem to have less color than the ones at the beginning. Is this supposed to happen or is the plant not getting sufficient light??? It's sitting on my southern window sill and gets plenty of light from the windows on the eastern and western sides of the room as well.

The dendrobium's new growth is getting taller, but at a slow pace. I've been leaving it outside where it's been getting full sun. I water it twice a day since it's so hot and fertilize it every other day. Should I fertilize it more?? The only fertilizer I use is an organic/non-urea liquefied "worm poop" in spray form. I had amazing results with it on my phals, so I'm hoping it will work on the den and odontocidium.

What are your thoughts?

-Theo

Answer
Theo, since the flowers on the end of the spike are the youngest, they may darken as they mature. It sounds as if light shouldn't be a problem.  Sometimes. switching to a high phosphorous plant food for flowering will enhance the flower color.

With regard to watering and feeding, Misting the plant should be fine as long as the leaves dry by nightfall.  Never argue with success.  If, what you are doing works, continue it as long as the plant is in active growth.  Success is measured by whether or not when growth has finished, that growth is as large or larger than previous growths.   Good to hear from you again. Keep up the good work.