Need Help with Golden Shower Orchid

[Marleine Nickles]

A friend just gave me a start off her Golden Shower orchid. A search on the net didn't turn up sufficient info for me to know how to properly pot and care for it. I have never grown an orchid before and don't want to do anything to kill it Any help on potting and care would be sooo welcome!

[janet_a]

small bright yellow flowers? i'm going to hazard a guess you have the onc and not the cynoches.

how many pseudo bulbs on the plant? (those big thick green things at the bottom) and do they have roots?

also, where are you located? (how much light, heat, humidity, etc do you generally get?)

is the plant potted already or did she give it to you bare root (naked)? in general, see the following:

http://aos.org/aos/uploadedfiles/doc...edoncidium.pdf

also look in the 'culture' section of this board--i believe there are additional culture sheets noted. look under "oncidium."

ETA: ok, MS--you should have a good environment for it. first thing, if it's not in a plastic baggie with a damp paper towel, stick it in one now. that'll keep it til you can get some potting material. i'd pot it up in long fibre sphag to start with; see

http://firstrays.com/potting.htm

start around paragraph 6. your plant is sympodial. later after it gets some good growth you might want to move it to bark, but first things first.

(there's also a thread on "dividing" on here--that would be good to look at too.)

[kmarch]

"Golden Shower" orchid....?

I think the name might have gotten a bit .... confused somewhere along the line or maybe someone's playing a joke. I don't think it is called a "Golden Shower" orchid. Moreover, I don't think I can actually post what a golden shower is, at least not without running the risk of being discipliined by the moderators for inappropriate subject matter. I'm not accusing anyone of dishonesty, I believe that is what the friend called it, but I also think maybe someone is playing a funny. Whatever kind of orchid it turns out to be, I really don't think we should call it golden showers.

[Anton]

Very tacktful Kevin.

[janet_a]

well, that was my initial thought too, but then i decided it must have been named by someone not familiar with colloquial american english.

however, there is indeed an onc golden shower out there:

http://www.orchidthailand.com/orchid...ium/index.html

http://www.larsen-twins.dk/orch-new/...er_364-1x.html

if anyone has the wildcatt software or similar they can look it up and i'll bet you a phal cordova that the registrant is thai or japanese or some such. jerry put a link in to the RHS (?) database; if anyone comes across it they can stick this in and see what comes out.

eta: there's also a cyc.

http://www.orchidweb.com/OrchidOfWeek.aspx?ID=1247

[kmarch]

Hi Janet,

Thanks for doing this bit of research. I'm sort of raising my eyebrows and shaking my head in disbelief. I should know the way of English colloquialisms by now, having lived in the US and now living in Australia. I've experienced more than a few embarassing moments as a result. I'm suprised it got past the folks at RHS who register the names. Maybe the breeder just got lucky and their application was read by someone who has led a sheltered life. It's one for the joke books I guess.

By the way, the colloquialism in question here exists in Australia too.

[fzzdk]

Originally Posted by kmarch

"Golden Shower" orchid....?

i was just going to leave this one alone. the topic was enough to make me giggle uncontrollably, because i'm a child like that.

it's amazing what people name orchids. i actually felt the same way about the "little black sambo" orchid being discussed earlier this week. it seems like the naacp would be all over that :P

[janet_a]

Originally Posted by fzzdk

it's amazing what people name orchids. i actually felt the same way about the "little black sambo" orchid being discussed earlier this week. it seems like the naacp would be all over that :P

yes, that's what i thought when i saw that post too. but i think the world of orchid nomenclature is small and insulated enough that the big outfits that take umbrage over these things wouldn't notice. the NAACP has bigger fish to fry (-cof- don imus -cof-).

after all when you think about it, the universe of people who actually get down to the botanical latin of orchid names is pretty small; for instance, the subscription to the Orchid Digest is somewhere around 3,000; AOS membership is what, 20,000? that's actually not that many people compared to the population of the US or the world, so i can see how this stuff could sneak in.

and one final word on naming orchids: TYPE the registration cards. once upon a time there was this splotchy purple phal which its registrant wanted to call "Golden Peacock." the handwriting wasn't that great, and this plant, which is now in the ancestry of dozens and dozens of harlequins, ended up being called "Golden Peoker."

http://www.robert-bedard.com/orchids..._peoker_bl.jpg

[fred]

Golden Shower

Interesting thread

I just about this one

[janet_a]

in fact:

Onc. Golden Shower ('Palolo Gold' x onc. Boissiense (onc. forbesii x onc. varicosum))

registrant: Miura, 1984

(the cyc was registered in 2004 by H&R.)

[Marleine Nickles]

Sorry I caused such a stir. The lady who sent it to me lives in Malaysia and all I can say is that she did, in fact, call it a Golden Shower. I have no idea what it would be called over here in the U.S. I'm brand new to orchids and just need to learn a little about taking care of it. No joke intended. Over in Malaysia they grow in trees and, obviously, I don't have the right climate for that so needed to know a few basics about taking care of it. Again, I'm sorry if I caused an embarrasing situation on this site.

[kmarch]

Dear Marliene,

As others have noted the proper name of the orchid is indeed Onc Golden Showers. A number of us were amused by this. The American Orchid Society has good culture sheets and one on Oncidiums available from their website. there are also good Oncidium growers who post here (I;m not one) who can give you great advice.

[fred]

Sorry I caused such a stir.
Again, I'm sorry if I caused an embarrasing situation on this site.

Dont worry Marleine Nickles

We are only to pleased to help.

If you dont ask questions you will never know

I am sure all the members are trying to help you with this.

may be a photo of your plant will halp also

[janet_a]

not at all. with an international group such as this, this will not be the first time something like this comes up.

so have you potted up the plant? how does it look?

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, there are lots of us that live sheltered lives. Thank you Wikipedia.

[Aniko]

Dear Nature Lover,did you find the information you need?
If not, please start a new thread and ask your questions.

Nature Lover, give yourself a pat on the back. It's not everyday that a newbie can stump the pros!

[Anton]

Wish I was there when you looked up Wikipedia Cynthia.

[Marleine Nickles]

Thanks all for your responses. I should have known to phrase my question differently. At 57 I don't always think about that kind of stuff and was only focused on finding the answer to my question. But, the misunderstanding was worth a good laugh. Yes, I have potted it (in orchid mix). It is still green, not growing yet of course, but I believe it will make it just fine. As it grows, I will probably have more questions. Thanks again. Y'all seem like a good bunch of folks.