tiny flower orchid ???

[vanessa b]

Hi, I'm new to orchids, and to doing the "forum thing"...so, here's my question...I got a beautiful orchid from a friend for my b-day, the flowers are SO tiny, yellow & brown spotted, look like little dancers, I dearly want to keep it alive but my luck with any plant is usually fatal (for the plant), short of giving it away, which I am tempted to do to save it's life, what should I do? I've had it almost one week & have not done a thing to it, no water, not moving it around alot, but I fear walking in one day to find it has taken a bad turn...I will describe it a little more, then maybe someone will know what it "likes" & I can go from there, it is potted in a small container, maybe 4" square, there are rocks in the container, I can see near the 'base" of the plant sort of a "pouch" in a teardrop shape, kind of wrinkled - like with creases on it, long staked stalks? with a mass of wonderful little yellow flowers at the end. Also there are kind of straw colored roots? or something visible on top of the rocks. Any suggestions would be SO welcome, as I really, really love this orchid 7 would really like to be able to have it live & be very happy with me. Thank You in advance for reading my post & any input...Vanessa B

[janet_a]

i'm going to go out on a limb and guess you have an oncidium.

can you post a pic?

try this:

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

also, where are you located and what are your conditions?

[vanessa b]

Hi janet, wow...that looks like the one! I'll try to send a picture, if it's super big or something, maybe I can try another way...As to location & conditions...Washington state, Tacoma, weather is starting to get sunny but it's still pretty chilly, the room it's in gets alot of "daylight" but not really direct sun, however, I could move it to another location if it would help, I think it gets to about 60 degrees or so at night, (really old house, drafty), and maybe around 68-70 degrees during the day...my sense of direction is really bad so I don't know which way (n, s, e, w) it is, but if I knew where it should be, direction wise, then I'd just ask my husband...I tried in the pics to show the flowers and also the base area, I noticed when I went to take the pics that the rocks look like lava a little...here goes with the pics & thanks so much for your input!! vanessa b P.S. I tried the picture thing..it's asking for a url ? Not sure how to do that, I use Kodak easy share on my computer...advice? Thanks again! vb

[janet_a]

somewhere on here is a post by dave on how to post pics... just do a search on his name and look at his threads. (he rocks. )


as i have killed one onc and have another one sickly and only managed to grow two fairly well, i'm not a good person to give advice on them, but as i recall they can handle a fair amount of light, and i think at your latitude you're probably not going to fry them. mine get morning light and at least 2 of them (howeara and a vuylstekeara) seem happy.

rocks are good as they don't break down and encourage rot. i have my two dens in them. just be sure to water and fertilize (judiciously on the fert.) the water is going to run right through and that's fine; for a four inch pot you may want to water 2x week. that pouch looking thing is a pseudo bulb, and it's where the plant stores water. once it gets wrinkly it won't plump back up, but that's ok, it will still get along fine.

i'm sure the onc folks will weigh in at some point...

[vanessa b]

Thanks Janet, I'll check for that pic posting advice, one question, you say fertilize judiciously...what fertilizer do you recommend & how is it applied, also, how should I apply the water, as in misting, or pouring on root, etc. & about how much...Thanks so much for your help so far too! vanessa b

As far as direction is concerned, watch where the sun is. When it comes up in the morning, it's in the east. As it crosses the sky, if the window is facing it, it's south. As the sun is setting, it's in the west. Now, just to confuse things, some windows may face directly east or they may face southeast or directly west or southwest. A north window would not be suitable for an oncidium.

Here in New Jersey I have my oncidiums in a west window (ever so slightly southwest, actually) and they love the setting sun. I find that my oncidium, which they call dancing ladies, likes lots of water. I water it twice a week all winter and three or more times a week in the summer when it's outside in very bright shade.

The stalks are called spikes. If you don't have any orchid food, Miracle Gro Tomato fertilizer is okay, or any plant food that isn't very high in nitrogen. They say to fertilize orchids "weekly, weakly". That is, every week very weak, as weak as a teaspoon to a gallon of water. Oncidiums bloom for weeks.

[jerrymeola]

Oncidiums are a strong family of orchids and a good one with which to start.

Since you said yours looks like a dancing lady, this one is called Dancing Lady.



They come in many colors and variations



They only bloom once a year (most - some more). They like to be a little damp but because of that large bulb on the bottom it can go a relatively long time without water. How often you water will depend on the medium you use and how dry your home is.

The lave rock is just that. A rock rather than bark to give good drainage and air circulation. With lave rock you should probably be watering 2-3 times a week. It is almost impossible to over water with rock. The bigger problem would be to let it dry out too much. If it has been in the rock for a long time and is stable (not loose in the pot), you would be best to keep it that way.

At your latitude the plant will probably enjoy half day sun if you grow it outdoors during the summer. The plant will live with low light but in order to make it flower again it needs about 2500 foot candles of light. The would probably be mornign sun and afternoon shade. Inside near a window it can vary on the conditions of the glass.

You can measure the light using a camera. The instructions are at this address

Measuring light levels with an SLR camera

[vanessa b]

Thank so much everybody, you are all awesome to share so much valuable advice, the picture of the dancing ladies in yellow looks exactly like mine, I will try all that you have suggested & drop in now & again with progress reports or questions, thanks again to all, it's so cool that you're all so interested in helping others enjoy orchids, I'll share your site with friends who are interested in orchids in the future!! can't wait to become a successful orchid caretaker with all your great instuctions...Take Care! vanessa b