Should I resist the urge?

[Highland Fashionista]

Hi everyone, thanks for your input on my last question about my crazy-dehydrated-new-roots-everywhere rescue phal. It seems happy now.

Here's the question:

I just bought a Tiny Twinkle oncidium on eBay. It has two spikes in it! Whoop! However, it is potted in sphagnum moss and perlite. I try to avoid that mix here in Scotland because I find it causes insta-rot with the climate. But I know that if I change the medium now, that might be the undoing of the flower spikes that will likely already be stressed from the voyage. Would I be safe to at least change the black plastic pot out for a clear one? What would you guys do? Would you just leave it or go for it?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I recommend repotting the plant into some small grade fir bark. Those roots will rot out quickly if left in moss. These orchids need a fair amount of air going to the roots. Moss will not provide enough air movement down there, and it could stay too wet for the plant's liking.

[Dante1709]

Twinkle is almost impossible to kill ; I don't see why you couldn't be able to repot. I've repotted pretty harshly when the spike was in bud, and nothing happened.

I find it does well in fine fir bark as well. Fine fir bark is best for Oncidiums ; especially for minis. Also, don't freak out if the next pseudobulbs are tiny, because same thing happened with me. The plant is a pseudobulb-growing machine, and even when it's getting acclimated to your environment, it'll attempt to make more (but smaller) pseudobulbs.

[Highland Fashionista]

The last onc I got (also eBay) was potted in semi hydro, and has been doing really great. My cat knocked it over once, and the clay went everywhere and the clear pot cracked, but actually I cobbled it all back together, Poked holes in the bottom of the pot and treat it like a phal pot that I have to water more often. It seems happy. Two new growths coming out, even after the "catccident" . Maybe I should try that? Or will that be too much of a stretch for the roots?

---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:11 PM ----------

Sounds like fir bark is the way forward however ...

[kindrag23]

Mine liked cooler weather then my others and fir bark mixed with packing peanuts and moss (in small amounts) They did really well. Until we got a serious cold front and the window sill I sat them in got REALLY cold and froze them to death...

[Highland Fashionista]

kindrag, I know this is perhaps schadenfreude on my part, but it actually makes me feel a bit better about things to hear a senior grower admit to such heartbreak in an open forum There is hope for us newbies yet.

[kindrag23]

I have been growing orchids for a year and a half now. So I still make newbie mistakes. Lol. Yeah I was saying some not so nice words when those died. We had snow and ice for a week and I totally forgot I had them sitting on my window sill.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Everyone makes a mistake here and there. It happens. Even those who have been growing orchids since they were a teenager have goofed one way or another for whatever reasons.

I myself am still learning new ways and techniques to grow some of the more frustrating orchids in the hobby long term.

So far, a few are successes, but there were failures to get to that success.

Part of the problem is that not a lot of specific or useful habitat information is available for many orchids. The secrets had to be pried out.

[Orchid Whisperer]

My suggestion is to lift the root ball out of the pot as soon as possible and have a look at the roots. if they look good, put a centimeter or two of coarse material in the bottom of the pot and then put the root ball back in the pot. Lifting the root ball like that will leave a small air gap between the root ball and the pot, and if you watch your watering, the root mass should not stay too wet.

When it is finished blooming, re- pot as usual.

[Optimist]

I got my twinkle about when Kindrag23 got hers. Sorry that it died. I was wondering myself about small guage repotting material. I took mine out of the square 2 inch pot, and put into a slightly larger clear pot with a larger gauge bark around it. I think in a week I will have some time to hack up some wood chips. I think it is just a matter of hacking or pounding with a hammer some larger oncidium mix into smaller. Since you are in Scotland you will need to add hard, well draining particles. Sugestions would be coconut shell, pummice stone, crock sherds from an old pot, large sand grains, perlite, mica, etc.