What did I buy?

[Dihcro]

I bought some Orchid today because it was pretty. I have no clue what type it is. I bought it at a hospital (weird place to buy an orchid...). It looks EXACTLY like an orchid mantis! I also got some cool Oncidium that's like 3ft tall, and it was bent like a candy cane. The top got bent off so I'm gonna have to wait another year or so for it to grow back. Anyways, they were in the car for over 4 hours in and the temperature in the car was over 100F. The one that I don't know what it is wilted. When I got home I ran a sink full of lukewarm water and soaked them for 15 seconds then I took them out and I'm letting them send on a towel while the water drains. I plan to re-pot them this evening so they won't been too wet forever. I'm hoping they'll perk up. So here's the picture of the one that I don't know what it is. It HAD a tag, but I broke it in to tiny pieces trying to read it.



The stem of the plant is flat unlike most other orchid which have round stems.
There is a single flower at the top of the stems, and it has 2 stems.
The leaves have a leopard pattern on them that is dark green.
On Oncidiums there are large, hard, round parts that the leaves grow out of, and this plant has those at the bottom of every leaf.
The guy that sold it to me said that it was "new"... that could mean a lot of things.
Here's a picture of the leaves...



What type of Orchid is it and could you give me any information about it? Thanks!

[madphrag]

Definitely a Psychopsis, but without the tag it would be hard to ID. I'd contact the vendor. Here is some cultural info- IOSPE PHOTOS

What ever you do, NEVER cut the old flower spikes off. They continue to produce flowers almost forever.

[kmarch]

It's a Psychopsis. It is a close relative of the oncidium. You can find a culture sheet at AOS | Members Only Area. It's what we sometimes call a "mule ear" oncidium so called because of the shape of the leaves. They like conditions that are drier than other oncidiums.

Do not cut off the flower spikes. This is a sequetially flowering oncidium meaning it will produce one flower after another on the same inflorescence for many years.

There are a couple of different species and a few hybrids that all look like this so it will be impossible to sort out which one it is. But at least you know what kind it is. Several orchidgeeks members have these and they will probably be along soon to give you some more tips.

[katrina]

I have mine potted in LECA as a medium (not s/h). It's super hot right now so I find I'm watering it every couple of days (or so) if it hasn't rained. As Kevin pointed out...this one likes it drier than most oncids...it wants to dry out between waterings (like a catt).

It's in direct morning sun until about 11:30am then just bright the rest of the day. It can take more light than that though.

They don't like a lot of root disturbance so pick a pot...repot it... and let it go for awhile.

Other than hitting it w/water every couple of days...and fert when everyone else gets fert...I pretty much ignore it. It's been blooming non-stop for about 2 yrs.

IMO, an easy orchid as long... as you don't over-water it.

[Dihcro]

Thanks for all the information! =D
The flower has perked up a bit ever since I soaked it in water. It can hold it's shape now.
How often do these bloom? I'm going to re-pot it in a few hours which will give it a chance to bounce back from being wilted. My room is very warm in humid because I have two big aquariums in the room that evaporate about 1 gallon each day together, so I may not have to water it as often.

Edit: Are these higher or lower light loving orchids? I'm deciding where to put it in my room.

[orchids4me]

Very nice, this ones been on my list for awhile
Thanks
Emmaye

[jerrymeola]

Dihcro

Your plant is probably Psychopsis Mendenhall because of the distinct pattern on the leaves. While this plant is impossible to ID from the flower, the leaves on the different types commonly sold in the US are distinctive.

Psychopsis papillo the type species has no pattern on the leaves.

The first hybrid was Psychopsis Butterfly, which starts to show the mottling pattern on the leaves. I would give it a 10% chance of being Butterfly but the pattern is darker than normal.

Psychopsis Mendenhall has the best pattern on the leaves and usually is a little darker than your photo but I give it 90% probability. Possibly you can find enough of a piece of the tag to determine which it is.

I have hundreds of all of these growing on my benches and the patterns are so distinct that you do not need to read the tags.

The flowers will continue to be produced on the tip of the stem for 5-10 years. As stated you never cut the stem unless it totally dies and dries out.

The flowers last about 3-4 weeks. You should lose yours in a couple of days. They usually die when moved, but another is growing right behind it. After 2-4 weeks the new bud will open and the cycle repeats.

I grow mine very wet. It is rainy season and they are getting about 2 inches of rain a day, never drying out. So they will take a lot of water but do not need that much.

They grow outside under 60% shade cloth, which is fairly high light for an orchid. I grow my Vanda in the same light and my Cattleya in this light show the light green leaf pattern of higher than normal light for the group. I tried some in very low Phal light and the flowers grow and flowered but were half size.

I take them to shows and am constantly knocking them out of the pots. They take re-potting very easily. The are extremely easy to grow and will tolerate a wide variation in care. This plant is probably the most abused I have and the losses are almost non-existent.

This is the butterfly orchid and if the stem is left un-staked it will fly in the wind, especially when the stem gets to about 4-5 feet long. I have had them in 20 mph winds and there was no danger of the stem breaking.

This is the Butterfly orchid.
The species is papillio and that is latin for butterfly
Psy. Butterfly is obvious
and Psy. Mariposa another hybrid is Spanish for Butterfly.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by jerrymeola

Psychopsis papillo the type species has no pattern on the leaves.

I've never heard this before and none of the botanical descriptions I've seen say papilio (note spelling) has plain leaves, they all say it has mottled leaves.

[Dihcro]

Thank you so much jerrymeola! That information helps a lot!
How often do they grow new spikes?
Also I looked at some Psychopsis Mendenhall pictures and the flower looks the same.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by Dihcro

Also I looked at some Psychopsis Mendenhall pictures and the flower looks the same.

The flower does look the same but as I mentioned before there are other hybrids and species both that look the same. So you can't ID it by that.

It could be Mendenhall but it could be other things as well. This is why tags are so important. We cant' even reliably determine if this is a species or hybrid without the tag.

If it had a tag maybe the person you bought it from has more of them...with tags...and maybe you can get the proper name form them. It sounds like having a name is important to you so it's worth a try.

[Dihcro]

Actually, I do have a tiny piece of the tag, and it's the end. It ends with 'll' and the letter before that is either an 'o' or an 'a'... so I'm guessing the tag said Mendenhall.
I asked the guy where I bought it the name and I can't quite remember what it was, but he showed it to me on his clipboard and it started with a 'B' and had some 'o's and I think an 'l' too.

[kmarch]

Well the "o" or "a" and the "ll" sure do fit in with Mendenhall but the "B" and "l" don't fit in with Psychopsis. I'd just ring him and ask him again. I think that's the only way you cna be 100% sure.

[Dihcro]

I'll go next week and ask again. He won't be back there until Wednesday.
But I'm 100% sure it's a Psychopsis, just not sure what type of Psychopsis.

[kmarch]

Yes I agree with you that it is a Psychopsis, no doubt there.

[ldyedgware]

Wow! That is so pretty.

[Dihcro]

Thank you! I was told by the guy I bought it from that this orchid was one of the newest types on the market. They have some of these for sale online, but the prices are about 8x more than I paid for mine. I got mine for $7!!

[Paul J.]

This is all great information to have.

I have also picked up an Unknown Psychopsis recently (no, it did not have a brown paper bag over it's head - but the tag was simply "Orchid - Psychopsis") at my local nursery. It was (and remains) out of bloom, however it has a single 24" spike bifurcating at node 8. One of the secondary spikes has an obvious flower bud now after about ten days, but the other spike has what appears to be a new plantlet at the tip - no bud, rather it has two TINY leaves (slight mottling, no clear morphology, however). The leaves of the main plant are almost completely unmottled - there is slight mottling at the tips and at the base of the leaves coming off the three pseudobulbs on this plant.

So - my question (perhaps best posed as a separate thread? Apologies, as I am new here): If secondary spike #2 does actually contain a new plantlet, as I have read Psychopsis will sometimes do, does anyone have any advice regarding ensuring that this new plant lives, thrives and survives, even at the expense of the flower on the other secondary spike?