Question
Dear Wayne,
About 3 weeks ago I purchased an oncidium sharry baby.  Something that has been bothering me is that some leaves seem to be dying.  The trait it exhibits is a steady desiccation (it doesn't look fungal to me, it looks as though it's just steadily dying) and some leaves exhibit a sudden "splitting" down the center.  Furthermore, I recently found a similar progression at the base of one leaf.  I believe it's receiving more than enough watering, so is there some other culprit?

Thank you,

Korie

Answer
Korie, unfortunately many of the plants we purchase are in potting mix which has degraded to the point that some roots are starting to rot.  It is natural for older leaves to turn yellow and fall off.  As long as your pseudobulbs are all firm, there is no urgency to repot and, in fact, it is best to repot when there is new growth.  Another reason to wait to repot is that this plant normally sends up flower spikes in the fall so it might still flower this fall.  Try to cut back on watering because it's unlikely that it can use much water and too much water could add to root rot (try to go to every other week on watering).  Try to increase the light level even putting it outside if it's not there now.  A Dynagrow product called "ProteK" can help with the leaf splitting but it will take a few weeks to reduce future leaf splitting.  Be sure to follow the directions exactly or the leaves may actually become too brittle.  You can just add this to the water and use it every other week as you water

It may be late winter before you have new growth.  When that starts be sure to repot in fresh orchid potting mix and remove any rotted roots before doing so.