Cambria Orchids Help

[Ann Hall]

I have been given a Cambria plant burgundy/white most of the tips of the 4 back petals (sorry forgive as beginner) look greeny/brown, to me a dying colour ,is this correct for a Cambria and how do I look after it. I do love Orchids :

[fred]

hi Ann Hall
welcome to the forum
Can you go into your user settings and update your Location for us as this will help us better with giving you information.
I have found this link with some information for you.
http://orchidarchive.co.uk/orchid%20...ria%20info.htm

dont be scared about asking questions as we have alot of awesome members here who are full of knowledge and are very keen to help you.

happy chatting

[kmarch]

Hi Ann and welcome to the forum.

Your orchid is a member of the Oncidium Alliance. Many of the flowers in this group of orchids contain brown colours which are prefectly nromal so your flowers may be normally coloured. If they are not normally brown they could possibly just be dying off. Orchid flowers eventually die and drop like all other flowers. If you are able, please post some pics of your orchid. This will better enable us to give you good advice.

Go to the American Orchid Society website (www.aos.org) and download a free culturesheet on Oncidiums. The culture and care of your plant will be the same as as is outlined on the Oncidium culture sheet.

I'm glad you posted because your post reveals a rather serious problem regarding the treatment of orchid names. The name "Cambria" is not a real orchid name at all. It's neither a scientific name nor a common name. It is a name that is used commercially (Mostly in Europe I think) to refer to a whole array of both infrageneric and intergeneric hybrids in the Oncidium Alliance. Vuylstekeara, Beallara, Burrageara, and Oncidium, are just a few of the genera referred to collectively as "Cambria" orchids. What they do is they just drop the proper, correct generic name and replace them all with "Cambria" as if "Cambria" were the genus. It's a pointless and silly practice. the nurseries could just as easily retain the proper name of the plants.

Let us know if you have additional questions!

Happy Growing!

[BillC]

Wellcome to the forum Ann, nice to have you onboard.

Kevin, you have just stunned me again with the info. on Cambrian. I have seen it a number of times but never understood what it meant. Your last paragraph has gone into my files. Thanks!!

Bill

[justloveorchids]

You are correct in that often in Europe they are labelled Cambria
I aquired a beautiful one last week for $2

I understand that when the flowers die you water the plant only till the bulbs are filled out and solid and then keep it at 16 -18degrees for 1 month

[kmarch]

justloveorchids,

I saw the website that you got that culture info from. The cultural advice they gave there seems to me to be a little "gimicky." Realistically, how many of us are going to be able to keep a plant at a constant 16-18C (approx 60-65F) for a whole month. Furthermore if i remember correctly it said to do that just after blooming to set the bulbs for the next blooming, but the next blooming will probably not come off those bulbs but instead will probably come off the set that will grow on the next growth cycle. As we say here in Australia, it seemed a little sus to me (sus = suspicious).

I would 1) figure out what kind of orchid I have, specifically whether it has Miltonia or Odontoglossum (both cool growing) in it and then 2) follow more reliable cultural advice like that found here on this forum or from the AOS or another reliable source.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

If your plant's flowers are burgundy and white, you may actually have V. Cambria 'Plush', the plant that gave the name to the Europeans. Check this site: http://www.orchidweb.com/OrchidOfWeek.aspx?ID=523