'Izumi' and 'Crowhurst' with yellow and wrinkled pseudobulbs

[HeatherFeather]

Hi All! First let me introduce myself. I'm new to Orchid Board, this being my first post so forgive me! My name is Heather and I'm from Indiana. I received my first orchid, a phal, 4 years ago as a gift. Since then I have acquired 3 more phals, 2 paphs, and 3 hybrids. I'm learning how to care for all of them; research and trial and error. I've only lost one so I consider myself lucky so far!

I bought these two orchids pictured in Kauai in September, the purple is an Izumi, the yellow a Crowhurst. Pictures are attached in order of before and after. Both were flowering when they were brought home. Now in what I believe to be a resting state, the pseudobulbs of both plants are shriveled and yellowing. A few of the bubls did not have leaves, a few leaves turned yellow and fell off. Are these lacking water or are the pseudobulbs just aging naturally?

Orchids are resting over a humidity tray in my bathroom facing East. And are watered once a week or so. I have lost a phal due to overwatering so I am cautious to water so often...

I greatly appreciate any feedback given. Thanks!

[Zoi2]

Hello and welcome to the OB.
I believe both your plants are in the Onc alliance and do not need a rest. They both look awfully dry have you checked the roots lately?
Joann

[debval]

I agree you need to check the roots but I believe you will find soggy roots. Just gently pull the orchid out of the pot and check it out. Check the condition or the medium. It may be deteriorated and need to be replaced. If you're interested I can tell you how to make an orchid icu. It works well for me.

[HeatherFeather]

There is hardly any media in the pots, just some large chunks of bark. I have not repoted. The roots are easily visible and are dry. Would it be beneficial to soak them for a period of time and start watering more frequently?

[FairyInTheFlowers]

I know this might not be what's causing this, but I know that the sharp increase and decrease in humidity in a bathroom due to showering and such can harm an orchid by stressing it out. Just my !

[Zoi2]

It would probably be a good idea to unpot the plants and check the roots. If the roots are not good, it isn't going to matter how much you water, the plants aren't going to absorb it.
Joann

[HeatherFeather]

I unpotted and checked out the roots. You were right, most of the roots were soggy and bad. I Cut back the dead and repotted. The two worst looking bulbs had the least roots, but the ones that were green had some nice looking ones. I did see some new growth on one of the bulbs which was reassuring. Hope they do okay!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

The full name to the "Izumi" is Miltassia Charles M Fitch 'Izumi'.

Miltassia is an Oncidium Alliance intergeneric hybrid (man-made).

The genera that make up Miltassia are:

1. Miltonia (I'm talking about the true Miltonia [Milt], not Miltoniopsis - Mltps are the Pansy Orchids)

2. Brassia

Yours is growing in what is called a net pot. Net pots provide a lot of air circulation to the roots. They also can be found in smaller sizes much easier than standard opaque plastic pots.

The highly probable reason that the grower in Kauai used net pots is mostly because the climate is most like that of where the parents of this hybrid comes from. A second reason, being that root rot is a common problem amongst plants in the Oncidium Alliance because of their thin roots.

In the more arid climate of Indiana, growing these 2 Onc intergenerics in net pots is not such a great idea. It can easily lead to dehydration.

Same goes for the other Onc intergeneric "Crowhurst" (full name Miltassia Dennis Kleinbach 'Crowhurst').

I would recommend a clear plastic pot of the smallest size you can find. And if the root mass is much smaller than the pot size, just add styrofoam peanuts on the bottom, then fill the rest in with small or medium sized bark chips.

Bathroom humidity may be much for these two hybrids. With stuff like certain Pleuros and plants in the Huntleya clade, they love bathroom level humidity.

The light in the bathroom is not enough to grow the 2 Onc intergenerics properly. They like moderately bright indirect light. With low light levels, these Oncs, will slowly decline and die.

Miltassias don't have a dormancy period.

A word about Paphs...

Paphs have unusual root systems.

1. They have non-photosynthetic roots.

2. The roots are naturally hairy.

3. With most kinds, there are naturally not a lot of roots per growth.

4. They're usually a light brown in color.

Regarding Phals...

There's too much to go over in this post, but there's sufficient info on Phals on the OB. This website has a search engine.

[PegS]

Can you tell me how to make an orchid icu?

Peg

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by PegS

Can you tell me how to make an orchid icu?

Peg

Why?