Oncidium "Sharry Baby" How to rebloom?

[Jenn17]

Hi everyone,

I am LOVING my sharry baby oncidiums! They smell so wonderful, however I noticed that a few of the flowers are starting to fall off. I'm looking for some pointers on how to get them to bloom again...should I cut the stem? How much sun would it need? Water? Etc.

Thank you.
Jenn

[WhiteRabbit]

When the blooms are all finished, you can cut the spike - as low as you can without damaging the plant.

My Sharry Baby does well being kept slightly moist, tho I do have an over-turned small net pot inside it's pot.
Mine is on east facing, sheltered porch - gets some morning sun.

[Paul Mc]

Another good rule of thumb about cutting stalks is to wait until it's dried out. If you cut it while it's alive you may increase the chances of infections. That being said, you can also cut old dried portions and increase the risk of infections as well. Anytime you cut, you should sterilize your equipment.

Did you recently purchase this orchid? This may be another reason why the flowers are falling off. Newly bought orchids do not generally retain their flowers when moved to your home environment. You will have to wait until the appropriate season to see them bloom again, which I believe in actually spring. That being said, since it's already in bloom it may skip a season (1 year) before it blooms again. I don't believe they bloom twice a year, but I may be wrong on that count.

I have one as well, but it has not even thought about sending up spikes yet, this is why I was questioning if it was a relatively new purchase.

[neb]

I give my sharry baby as much sun as I can. I burnt many of the leaves this year but it responded with two spikes last summer and one at the end of last year that is just starting to fade a little. The flowering is dependent on bulb maturity not as much time of year.

[Jenn17]

Hi, thanks for all your feedback. Yes, I recently purchased it from a very reputable local greenhouse grower. Right now it is sitting on my home office desk near a west facing window.

I feel as though the scent is not as strong as when I initially purchased it. I moved it to a sunnier location earlier today to see if maybe it would waken it up so to speak and perhaps give off more scent.

I do see a few potential buds forming towards the bottom...so I suppose I shouldn't cut back regardless.

I've only had experience with Phals...I know nothing about oncidiums so please pardon my ignorance!

[WhiteRabbit]

the fragrance does weaken with time - when mine was first blooming, it was too strong for me to be near the plant for long - now a couple months later there is still fragrance, but much more subtle

[Vanda lover]

I find that the plant is more fragrant when it needs water or at certain times of the day.

[Paul Mc]

Neb, that is good to know about the flowering not being so dependent upon the time of year. I was under the impression that most oncidiums bloomed in the spring unless they were the kind that bloomed twice. My Sweet Sharry was bought as a baby and was due to mature in 1 year (or so they said, lol...). It does look fairly mature to me, and it does have new growth, so I guess that means I should expect some blooms this summer then?

[neb]

It dose take about a year for the bulbs to mature most of the time but I was just trying something and gave the plant full sun from sunrise to about 2 p.m. it had a ton of air movement, water, and nitrogen untill the bulbs were almost mature. I just wanted to see what would happen. I have another pseudobulb that i think will mature and bloom mid to late spring

[Jenn17]

I try to mist the leaves every morning but I'm always worried that the flowers will get wet. Are they more forgiving then phals in this respect?