Oncidium Oddity

[Troythediver]

What the heck is this? The pbulb grew to this stage rather quickly and now I haven't seen any growth for about a month until today with this thing trying to peek out.

[orchidsarefun]

I think you have a problem - either you are underwatering evidenced by the ultra-wrinkled bulb and possible pleated new leaf, or you have rotted roots which leads to the same symptoms.
I would recommend you check the roots and remove any rotted ones - and then take a look at your watering regime. In humidity of around 50% most oncidiums only need to be watered 1x per week. This will recover, given time and proper watering.

[cbuchman]

To me, that looks like a spike that is "caught" in the leaf folds. This happens frequently with Oncidiums. See if you can gently pry the spike loose and it will straighten out in time. Be gentle - they break easily!

The older pblub does look wrinkled, but the new growth looks healthy and plump.

[kindrag23]

I agree w @cbuchman; when I blow the picutre up it does look something like that of a stuck/ingrown spike.

[Troythediver]

I did spread the leaves a bit more and could see that the new pbulb was smooth. The wrinkled pbulbs were wrinkled when I bought it. I've had it since about June. I repotted it 3 weeks ago and there were no signs of rot. In fact the root system was very robust. The only thing I can think of is that the newest shoots of the pbulb got a little sunburned just as they were emerging. Also, here in Ohio the humidity has dropped substantially in the last month.

Is it odd that it is starting to spike before the pbulb has fully matured? Also, I was really lazy with the fertilizer. Is that why it is smaller? This is my first oncidium, so I'm kind of guessing at things. The pic attached is from October 4th right after the small burn right in the growing area.

[Bill U.]

It is possible for some oncidium types to spike before the bulbs are fully mature. I know that my Onc. Tsiku Marguerite (aka Onc. Twinkle-type) will put out spikes before the bulb is 100% mature. A couple of times, I have seen that they are thrown some new spikes when the new pbulb is just starting to get a bit round through the new leaves of the fan. In terms of the spike- I think that might be a complex thing where the length may be affected by fertilizing rate, amount of light it receives, watering, temperatures, etc. I can't really give you a definite answer. I have the same question when one of my phals sent up a new spike in the middle of July and now it is much shorter than its last spike- I'm thinking it has to do with some light differences with summer sun. But again, not too sure on that one..

[Leafmite]

I have found that when a plant/orchid goes through an adjustment where there is root loss, sometimes the new growth will be slow/smaller until a healthy root system has developed. Less water, as someone has suggested, tends to lead to this too but that can be caused by the roots needing to be established. Once an oncidium establishes a good root system, they grow like crazy.

[WhiteRabbit]

As Bill said, some Onc alliance spike early in the growing cycle

[Troythediver]

Well, now I don't know whether to be excited that this is my first oncidium spike or not!

I did some gentle spreading and to add another twist, the spike is coming out if the top of the pbulb! What does that mean?

[Optimist]

My thoughts on this are that it is a twisted spike. I had one myself and had to gently open the leaf without touching the spike or wounding the plant. I used a popcycle stick.

Oh, my odontonia bulb is no where near full grown and it is spiking. The spike is about 4 inches tall now. I read that they will spike several times. I am just waiting to see what happens.

As far as oncs and wrinkled bulbs, it was my understanding that only new bulbs had roots, and the old bulbs (back bulbs) just hung around to feed the new bulb, so they will eventually get wrinkled anyway.