Any hope for this clearance rack oncidium?

[Mothra79]

I rescued an oncidium from the half off rack at Lowe's yesterday. Surprisingly, they didn't over water it. It looks more like the poor little guy hasn't seen water in quite some time! The roots are completely brown and brittle. What do you think? Any hope for this orchid? I think I'm going to give it a bare root soaking in some Superthrive for now.

[Ross]

I've had some like this. The dried white is way better than mushy brown. Just rehydrate by soaking in a repotting mix of KLN and RO or distilled water (1 tsp KLN per gallon water along with some ProTekt if you have it, if not, don't worry about it, just use KLN). Soak for like 30 minutes, repot (I prefer bark mix - now is not a good time for shift to S/H) and keep a bit on dry side, but not as dry as in the past. I prefer to spray the base of the bulbs (never the leaves) with straight RO water every morning - just a few quick shots. This seems to stimulate roots development. Good luck.

[mlw]

I can't add anything to what Ross has written, except that I've had luck w/oncidiums that looked like that coming back.

Let us know what happens.
-Miriam

[cb977]

Ditto

[Mothra79]

Sounds good to me! I'll get some potting medium soaking overnight and do that tomorrow. Thanks for the advice!

[Mothra79]

One more question! As a wilsonara, I know it doesn't like to have its roots dry out. How soon until I can start watering it relatively frequently?

[unhappykat]

Wait until you see some new roots emerge from the newest growth. until they begin to emerge allow the plant to almost completely dry befor the next watering to prevent rotting of any stressed roots.