Oncidium Help -

[RantingDev]

I have a little magenta oncidium orchid that I bought a few months ago. It stopped blooming about a month and a half ago, and all of the blooms that were on the branches (approx. 25 blooms) are gone. One of the stems is now turning a lighter colour. I water it regularly, and the rest of the plant appears to be very healthy (the leaves are still very stiff and nicely coloured).

Should I cut the empty stems off now that there are no more blooms on them? If so, where should I trim it? Could there be another cause for this problem that I'm overlooking?

Thanks!

[Ellen]

Sounds like there is no problem with your oncidium, it's just finished with this season's blooming. If the flower stalks have dried off, you can cut them or not, depending on how you want it to look. It doesn't matter to the orchid. If the pseudobulbs, leaves, and roots are healthy, it will bloom again next season from new stalks.

[arleneg]

Like Ellen said, it's blooming season is most likely done.

In regards to cutting the stem off, you can cut it as low as you can if you don't want to see much of it. If you don't mind the old stem peeking out, then you cut higher. It's all up to you.

[RantingDev]

Thanks, guys. I'm glad my baby is okay! What a relief!

Will new blooms come off of the old stems next blooming season if I keep them?

[Aniko]

No, the old stem is dead, instead : a new growth will start soon or later from the base of the last pseudo-bulb (which just have finished blooming).
The new growth will develop a new pseudo-bulb, than a new spike.This is the growing pattern of oncidiums.
Sometimes other older ps-bulbs start new growth, too.

(Unlike oncidiums, Phalaenopsis can develop new buds on old spikes.)