Oncidium care

[NYCorchidman]

You do not need the temperature range of 11-14C. It will surely "survive" but this is not a cold grower.

If you want it to continue to grow normally, then minimum temperature at night should not go below 15C ish. I never keep my oncidiums under 15. They grow year around and bloom once or twice a year depending on the type.

Regarding air movement, this is something many people do not understand. Sure, nice breeze all day and night as in the wild will be nice, but remember even with the windows and doors shut, the air is always moving around.
I grew orchids indoor without even a fan for years and all is well. I do use fans in the heat of summer to help reduce the stress when possible though.

Regarding wrinkles, they are not necessarily ideal.
Regular and good watering schedule usually keep ALL the pbs plump.
Slight wrinkle may or may not bounce back depending on the severity.
Winkled pbs are sign of underwatering, heat stress, or root damage.

while some wrinkles are perfectly fine, the goal is to keep them all fat. It is an indication of good watering. Once you wrinkle them badly, the may not recover, but the newer growths should grow fat and plump pbs.

I would say aim for the newst pbs plump.
In your case, the plant look quite suffered and those winkles will not straighten out. No need to worry, as you have a new growth going.
As you water your plant good, it will grow nice and big pb and you want to keep it that way.

[Edwin Reffell]

My Oncidiums are indoors. I have not given them any cold treatment. The 11-14 C is for 4 Phaleonopsis and a Dendrobium kingianum. I have not seen the colours of those Phaleonopsis and was told that night temperature of 11-14 C for a couple of weeks encouraged spike development. I have 23 more Phaleonopsis, a Dendrobium nobile, 2 Oncidiums and 1 unidentified orchid (could be an Oncidium, Miltonia, Miltoniopsis or a hybrid) inside my flat. The only orchids I may give cold treatment to later are some Phaleonopsis but I do not think there will be time before it gets really freezing cold outside (possibly down to minus 30 C as winter progresses) and I close the balcony door and let my cherry tomato plants, a yellow and a black tomato plant freeze. I may take cuttings before that and grow tomatoes indoors when I take all the other smaller plants inside.

[My Green Pets]

Originally Posted by Edwin Reffell

I had to edit this because whenever I write the proper word for spraying with water it is hypertexted and an advert pops up. That baffles and annoys me.

I agree. That annoys me as well, but so does all other advertising.

[NYCorchidman]

[QUOTE=Edwin Reffell;629684]My Oncidiums are indoors. I have not given them any cold treatment. The 11-14 C is for 4 Phaleonopsis and a Dendrobium kingianum.

Dendrobium Kingianum can take it down to freezing when kept dry and do perfectly fine. Actually cold winter is what they need to flower well and stay healthy.

On the other hand, you do not want to expose phalaenopsis in that temperature range.
14 maybe fine but definitely not 11. It will not kill them, but they will not like that.
There are a few theories about what triggers phalaenopsis (common large flowering hybrids).
I've never heard of exposing them down to 11, and some study actually shows that 11-14 is bad for flowering performance.

I find that just a slight dip in the temperature (both day and night) in the late summer or early fall is usually enough for many of them to spike.

[Edwin Reffell]

Inside while it is light I have my Phaleonopsis at 22 C. I can try to warm the balcony to over 15 C at night now but I cannot do that all winter because it will get too cold outside. How long do I need to give them a cooler night temperature than when it is light in winter to encourage them to spike? How many hours at a cooler temperature per night is best? It is dark here at 3 p.m. now and gets light after 8 a.m. so it is night for many hours. By December 22nd it will be dark at 2.30 p.m. Then very slowly daylight increases to reach a maximum June 25th. I have 4 Phaleonopsis that I want to encourage to bloom so that I can see what colours they have. If I remember correctly someone told me they needed to be cooled for 2 weeks, warmer than 10 C and cooler than 15 C. From that I reckoned on a temperature of 11-14. In the orchid booklet I got at the beginning of this month it says no colder than 12 C, daytime 20-22. I shall warm the balcony to 15-18 C. Is it perhaps too late?

[NYCorchidman]

Night time is not all that important.
There was a study done where day and night temperature was kept constantly for 20 weeks.
The maximum flowering was achieved for the plants kept at temperature between 23C and 16 C.
Any higher or lower, no flowering.
I think under 16C is too cold for phals. Above 26C, plants want to grow rather than flower.

Here is another thing.
It may take just a few weeks in the cooler temperature for phals to spike, but if you switch back to much warmer temperature, the flowering won't be good.
In your case, indoor temperature of low 20 C is really good actually.

I would just be concerned about "cold" nights they might suffer once the weather gets colder.

Can you bring your phals in from the balcony so they stay warmer during the winter?

[flexdc]

As far as phalaenopsis cool period, you need to be a bit careful. 18c to 20c is plenty cooling for them. It mimics the slight cooling before the onset of rain in the tropics. Anything colder than that you will risk rot. In our subtropical Mediterranean climate, I over winter all my phals indoors. Our winter nights average about 10c. Most oncidiums do not mind this temperature, in fact I think they thrive in it. I usually keep them much drier in the winter of course. As far as light concern, can you give your plants artificial supplemental light? I remember in some of your photos it seems that you have artificial lights.

Andrew

[Edwin Reffell]

Thank you. I shall keep the Phaleonopsis indoors from now on in about 22 C and hope they like that and spike. Any tips about optimal care to promote spiking? I have supplemental lighting which I switch on as soon as it gets dark.

[flexdc]

If your phals grew at least one leave last summer and if there is a slight variation between day and night time temperature, they should spike automatically. Even if you set your thermostat to a constant 22c indoors, there is usually a variation in temperature between night and day due to sunlight light and when your grow lights are on. I would also be careful about watering during the cooler months. Don't let water sit I the middle of the plant overnight.
Andrew

[My Green Pets]

Mr Reffell, my Phals began showing their spikes around October 10th. The summer had been hot and the cooler temps of September were enough to start the spikes.

I think that keeping your plants inside at 22C, not moving them around, supplementing their light so that they get 12 hours per day, providing air movement, and maintaining a steady water/fertilizer schedule will be the best you can do for your Phals.