Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl' - Looks pretty sickly!

[chersull_99]

Major newbie alert!

I am posting photos of my poor Odontocidium Tiger Crow 'Golden Girl'. It had lovely blooms on it when I bought it in May, but it is now looking pretty peaked. It has four (what I believe are called) pseudobulbs. It had two when I bought it and has sprouted two more since then. All the bulbs look shriveled. Some of the leaves are turning brown and becoming brittle on the ends. There is some growth that is quite health looking, but I have seen any shoots or buds for months.

What am I doing wrong? I'm watering about 1x week and have tried placing it in a window, and away from a window, because I'm not sure which is right.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I don't think it's your cultivation techniques that are stressing it out to the point of death.

It's the selection process that needs work (no offense).

Why?

Your plant has no viable roots. They appear to be all dead.

No roots. No water.

No water, plant uses up reserves from it's pseudobulbs.

Still not producing roots, plant continues this process until it's exhausted and dies.

First and foremost...

Odontocidium is not a natural genus name, it is a manmade intergeneric hybrid name.

The two genera of orchids are:

Odontoglossum x Oncidium

This intergeneric mix was most likely made for large flowers from the Odontoglossums with the warmth tolerance of Oncidium (most Odontoglossums are cooler growing as they come from higher elevation forests). I'm making an assumption with this statement.

Lighting is moderate indirect sun.

Think about it this way...

Both genera of orchids (Odontoglossum and Oncidium) have mostly species that grow on trees. They won't get direct sun.

I'm posting links of Oncidiums in the wild and Odontoglossums in the wild to give you a point of reference and hopefully inspire some ideas to help you grow Onc Alliance orchids.

Here's a pic of an Onc. longipes in the wild:

Google Image Result for http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3396/3335685727_8e6efe483e.jpg?v=0

This one is Onc. cogniauxianum in the wild:

Google Image Result for http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3611/3666783092_7032b77b60.jpg

This is an Odontoglossum colony in the wild, they're hard to see, but you can barely make out the yellow and brown flowers:

Google Image Result for http://image48.webshots.com/48/1/57/34/343615734xXEeKc_fs.jpg

Closeup of an Odontoglossum pseudobulb:

Google Image Result for http://image26.webshots.com/26/1/58/44/343615844SUpHTB_fs.jpg

[cabnc]

I would agree with the previous post -- your plant has no roots. So you need to coax the plant to grow roots. One method is to replant in a pot with rocks:

Orchid backbulbs - No sphag, no bag

Place plant in a low light area until you get new root growth.

Sometimes a plant is just a 'lemon'. My wife purchased two 'Golden Girls'. Same vendor, same cultivation, two years later one is thriving. The other is worse than yours

Charlie

[chersull_99]

This was my first orchid. The plant was in beautiful shape when I bought it, but I had no idea what to look for to assure it would stay that way. I can see some roots coming from one of the newer, smaller bulbs. I don't know know if pseudobulbs and backbulbs are the same thing.

The plant is in very large chunks of mulch, I guess you'd call it. They are like small pieces of wood. There is a thin layer of moss on top of some of the wood. This seems to hold very little water because when I water it, most of it seems to run right through, although I imagine the wood holds more water than stones would.

In addition to replanting in stones, should I remove the leaves that seem to be dying? Do I try to separate bulbs? I'd like to save it if I can, but I need some pretty specific, idiot-proof, instructions on what I should do. For example, should I remove the whole leaf, just the part that is dead, or leave them all together? Do older bulbs just die at some point regardless of how healthy a plant is?

Thanks again!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Here's the trick...

It's all about high humidity. The higher the better. Shoot for 100% if you can.

Consistently high humidity is what's going to make the plant want to try to push out roots.

Backbulbs are referring to the much older pseudobulbs.

Backbulbs are pseudobulbs.

Pseudobulbs are not necessarilly backbulbs. In order to call a pseudobulb a backbulb, it depends on it's relative age to the newer pseudobulbs.

In horticulture, the newer shoots are usually called lead growths.

The wood the plant is growing in is technically not mulch. Mulch is much finer.

These are wood chips. Many orchids are grown in wood chips to simulate how they grow on trees in the wild.

It isn't wise to grow a plant that naturally grows on trees in potting soil. This is a big no-no. The roots will suffocate (because there's not enough air going through the soil for roots that are normally adapted to being in the air), or get infected by bacteria or fungus that it is not accustomed to growing with symbiotically (all plants have symbiotic relationships with certain bacteria or fungi to one degree or another) and die.

Rocks are a different matter entirely.