Burr. Stefan Isler 'Lava Flow' care?

[OrchidTear]

I received the Burr. Stefan Isler 'lava flow' orchid as a gift from my dad. He said it was the only one like it surrounded by phals at Meijers and couldnt resist. Unfortunately none of the tags it came with say how to care for this orchid. And me being so new to this have mostly dealt with phals. I tried looking online for how to care for it or even find out what kind it is but I havent found much. Can someone please tell me how to care for this beautiful plant?

[RosieC]

Probably standard oncidium care would be best for this. http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=202]Oncidium Care

Burr. stands for Burrageara and it's a cross that involves both oncidiums and miltoniopsis.

I have Nelly Isler (which you will find is quite popular here and may find more information on) which is a cross of Stefan Isler and another Miltoniopsis. I would guess care of yours would be similar and I've based my care on the Oncidium instructions on the link above.

---------- Post added at 07:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:33 PM ----------

By the way, not sure how new you are to the naming of orchids so I'll explain that a bit further.

Burrageara is the genus name.

Stefan Isler is the grex name (or hybrid name). Note that hybrid names are always capitalised while species names are lower case. Theoretically species names should also be italicised but most people miss that out.

'Lava Flow' is the cultivar name. This is a name given to a specific plant and it's clones (or divisions). A seed cross of two of the same cultivar can't use the same cultivar name as they will not be genetically identical.

There is more info here about how orchids are named. Orchid Naming

---------- Post added at 07:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:39 PM ----------

By the way, I've also found that due to reclassification of some of the parents, this is no longer a Burrageara. It has now been classified as Oncidopsis. However most people will know it as Burrageara and you are more likely to find information on it under that name.

[OrchidTear]

I was wondering since this is my first oncidium type orchid, if by chance the bulbs are suppose to be wrinkled like this? Also a leaf on the small bulb is a little yellow. I think its potted in spagnum moss, is it able to use other mediums or is it suited for spagnum moss?

[james mickelso]

Burrageara are very easy to grow. The most prevalent problem is watering it too much and due to this, root death. It is in moss and this is fine as long as you water it only when the pot feels light weight, then water it well. Water it until the pot feels heavier. Don't let it get bone dry but just damp. You can repot it back into a good quality sphagnum moss (long fiber New Zealand moss is best I think), a bark/sponge rock/charcoal mix/ LECA (get it at a hydroponics store), or Coco husk chunks. If you repot it back into sphagnum moss just make sure you don't pack it into the pot too tightly. The key to most oncidium types is not to keep the roots wet for long, pot it into too large a pot, or repot it at the wrong time in it's growth cycle. Wait until it starts putting out new growth from the base of the largest pseudobulb. When those new growths get roots of their own (you'll see the new roots) that is when you repot it. The wrinkling of the old pbulbs means it has flowered and the flower production used a lot of the stored starches and sugars in the older pbulbs. Not to worry. Just keep watering the plant when the pot feels light and give it medium bright light but not anywhere full sun.

[RosieC]

I've grown my Burrageara in bark, in CHC and most recently in lecca.

[OrchidTear]

Sadly i just lost this orchid. It continued to wrinkle, then lose leaves and the bulbs died. Which is upseting, the biggest bulb did have two new growths coming out but the bulb died before the growths could get big enough to root. But i wont give up, ill be sure to get another of this kind if i happen to find it in Meijer again, seeing as im not finding this exact orchid anywhere online. :3

[EricaMarie]

The Burr. Nelly Isler is quite common around here. I just went to the NCOS show in Maryland and several vendor tables had it available. But I have never seen one in any garden center. I got it as a freebie when I ordered another orchid. So if you want it you may have to order it online. If you are willing to give that one a go.

[Corsetière]

Don't feel bad that it died. I have one of these that I have been struggling with, too. I bought it at nursery when it was at the cheap "out of bloom" price, unfortunately this also often means that the plant has been in the greenhouse for a while and there are potential root problems. I pretty much always replant the minute I get the orchid home, unless it is blooming. Even so, I had issues getting the light right (it seems very sensitive to too much light) and I ended up losing one bulb to rot. Just prior to the bulb rot, I had transfered to semi-hydroponics. Now it seems to be holding on ok, after I cleaned up the rot, but it has not been an easy plant for my conditions.

[RosieC]

I lost mine too

I intend to get another one though at some point and try again!