Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl' with leaves turning yellow

[(..._...)]

If you can buy clear pots, yes!! they are great. You may not need to pot up though. As you mentionned before, they like to be a bit cramped in their pot. If the roots are healthy, but not completely filling the pot, you can just clean away the old medium, and add fresh stuff.

Check the roots though, my odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl' 's pseudobulbs aren't as wrinkled. (well the largest one isn't anyways. Could be just that some plants are different though.
good luck
Cam

[Niki]

For Phals (in one of my other threads) Cam wrote, "The mushy roots will be kinda hallow, and will pull right off of the long fiberous root center. You will know if the roots are rotten."

Is this the same for the odon? I was examining the soil yesterday, and I could some a few roots. there were long and thin and whitish colored (looking nothing like the Phal roots).

is this normal? When I repot and look for rotten/dead roots, am I looking for the same thing? And, do I cut away all the dead and rotten roots in this one as well?

Thanks!

Niki

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yup- they should be white and firm. not mushy. They also should not be able to be pulled off easily.

I find that sometimes my phal roots look a bit on the brown side rather than cream/white, but healthy oncdium roots are usually ivory when new/growing, and will turn a cream colour after a few weeks. Although I grow in moss, so mine do not pick up a brown tint from the bark.

[Niki]

Great! thanks

So, what's the difference between potting in all moss (which I think Cam did) vs. the bark/perlite/CHC mixture?

And you all would recc. not to try S/H yet, right? Maybe the next potting? I'm intrigued since I think Terri mentioned that hers really picked up once they were moved to S/H.

And approximately how long do you guys recc. I should wait between pottings? (and what do I look for as an indicator?). I don't really know what "good" medium is supposed to look like. I just didn't like how mine looked.

Niki

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I grow mine in moss because I find that medium suits my conditions, though the majority of the people pot theirs in bark mixes. Just like some people perfer semi-hydro to standard potting mixes, I exoerimented with moss and liked it.

How long have you had this plant by the way?

[Niki]

I've had the plant for hardly any time. I got it in May, so I've had maybe 6 or so weeks? I got it on clearance, as it was at the end of it's bloom.

I had my eye on it for quite some time, but since I just got into orchids and wasn't sure if I could get it to rebloom and not kill it, I wasn't too keen on shelling out $55 for it. But, for $20, it was totally worth the risk.

I've had my Phals for almost one year and they didn't lose their leaves, so I started freaking out when this one's leaves started turning yellow, wondering if I was killing it or if it was normal for them to lose their leaves.

And, since, I knew Phals were supposed to be the easiest to care, I'd been concerned about my ability to keep this one is good health since purchasing it.

So, I started reading up on odon care and found (as I'm sure you gleaned) a lot of conlficting/not so good info. online. And then I stumbled upon this board...and horray, instant access to people who actually know what they're doing!

I guess I really shouldn't be suprised that the people at the speciality shop I purchased my orchid from had no clue. I know that the people at Sur La Table and William Sonoma (for the part) give out incorrect info about cooking equiptment, etc. But I guess I had more faith that the "orchid" experts at these shops actually had some clue (hence the reason I listened to that women who told me not to repot my Phals).

Niki

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well I'd say repot the orchid, and see how the roots are. Make sure you use a small bark mixture if you can, a medium/large bark mixture is too large for the root system of this plant.

When you unpot the plant, if you take pictured a post in on this forum, we would be able to tell you about the healht of the plant if you are unsure about the conditions of the roots.

ps. I ALWAYS get nervous when any of my orchids loose a single leaf!!!

read my post on my new blog that I just posted (the link is right below with comment).-- I explain why I use moss over bark, and the pros cons of my experiences with various mediums.

hope this helped

[Ross]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

You will only get one set of leaves and one maybe two at most spikes per bulb. Once it has bloomed it will have to grow a new bulb to bloom again. After the plant gets pretty large it may start sending out more than one new growth at a time. I have Odcdm. Mayfair 'Golden Gate' that I have had for years. It was badly sunburned several years ago (got left out in direct sun by my son who was caring for all the orchids at the time), and is just now starting to look better. It took me awhile to figure out that these guys don't like to dry out, but once I got the watering down it started perking up (you'll know they are too dry if the leaves pleat up as they try and emerge from the new growth). Anyway, I have two nice new big Pbulbs with long green leaves. It's in an 8" pot and has probably a dozen Pbulbs in the pot. Some are original and still look pretty good. They lost their leaves long ago but the bulbs themselves still look great. I'm hoping it will bloom someday soon...maybe this fall.

Great answer Terri! I have found that lots of the intergenerics might want to spike on supposedly immature new growths. This can also cause confusion as to what's happening. Pot size may have something to do with it, but I think overall culture and strength of the plant has even more to do with it. Blooming period can change depending on culture, is my point. Not only don't they like to dry out (pleated leaves) but they don't like standing water either! Really hard to balance that equation. Under really "old school" ways of growing these orchids, you would see new growths totally mature long before flower spikes emerge. With newer ways of providing weak, steady nutrients, I have seen repeated spiking on not-fully-matured new growths. Have a couple doing that right now.

[Niki]

Originally Posted by (..._...)

Make sure you use a small bark mixture if you can, a medium/large bark mixture is too large for the root system of this plant.

When you unpot the plant, if you take pictured a post in on this forum, we would be able to tell you about the healht of the plant if you are unsure about the conditions of the roots.

ps. I ALWAYS get nervous when any of my orchids loose a single leaf!!!

hope this helped

Yes, it did! thanks. I will definitely take a pic when I replant, and only move to a larger pot of the roots are filling the entirity of the current pot.

I really want to move to S/H for this particular plant, but am now feeling like I should repot in bark first, and then move to S/H after the new root growth starts. Sigh.

I'm scared of using moss. I just see myself not being attentive enough to keep on top of it getting water logged/rotting. But, for whatever reason, S/H doesn't scare me. n

Niki

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While many people have great sucess with s/h, there are lots of people who find that it does not work. Also, if you don't use the right water, (reverse osmosis etc.), you will start seeing lots of salt build-up and things.

As you have probaby already seen on this forum, there are mainly people who LOVE s/h, and use it for all their plants, or people that stick with regular organic mediums.

But, if bark doesn't work for you, they s/h is a great idea. I have never tried s/h because they do not sell the clay pellets were I live, and I do not want ot pay the shipping fees that would come along with shipping s/h by mail

Originally Posted by Niki

Yes, it did! thanks. I will definitely take a pic when I replant, and only move to a larger pot of the roots are filling the entirity of the current pot.

I really want to move to S/H for this particular plant, but am now feeling like I should repot in bark first, and then move to S/H after the new root growth starts. Sigh.

I'm scared of using moss. I just see myself not being attentive enough to keep on top of it getting water logged/rotting. But, for whatever reason, S/H doesn't scare me. n

Niki