Using Keiki paste on Oncidiums?

[sassymonte@hotmail.com]

Hello,
First time posting long time lurking. Love this forum so much great info!

I have been looking around trying to find some info on using keiki paste on oncidiums and haven't been able to find much, i was wondering if any one had experience using paste on oncidiums? If so how did it go, ware did you put the paste?

Or maybe some links with info on using it on orchids other then phals?

[Ray]

Keiki paste is really intended specifically for phalaenopsis. You will not be able to grow keikies on the flower stem of an oncidium.

However, if you smear it at the base of the plant, you may induce multiple new growths.

[Orchid Whisperer]

I have not used it on Oncidiums, but I have used it on dormant "eyes" (dormant potential growths) on old, leafless, rootless back-bulbs of Cattleya alliance plants.

What I did is take a new, sharp single-edge razor blade and barely scraped the outside of the dormant eye, just enough to scrape down to living cells. I applied a very small amount of keiki paste to the scraped area.

I let it be for a few days, then watered normally. The next summer, I was ready to divide the back bulbs from the rest of the plant. The old back-bulb section had maybe 10 or 12 bulbs in a clump. I cut that section off, placed it bare-root in an empty terracotta pot. Within a month, I had 3 new leads sprouting from that old clump of back bulbs. Later, when the sprouts developed roots, I divided the clump into 3 plants. All 3 plants bloomed that fall, all 3 are still alive and I am getting ready to send them to their new owners.

[czayta]

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

I have not used it on Oncidiums, but I have used it on dormant "eyes" (dormant potential growths) on old, leafless, rootless back-bulbs of Cattleya alliance plants.

What I did is take a new, sharp single-edge razor blade and barely scraped the outside of the dormant eye, just enough to scrape down to living cells. I applied a very small amount of keiki paste to the scraped area.

I let it be for a few days, then watered normally. The next summer, I was ready to divide the back bulbs from the rest of the plant. The old back-bulb section had maybe 10 or 12 bulbs in a clump. I cut that section off, placed it bare-root in an empty terracotta pot. Within a month, I had 3 new leads sprouting from that old clump of back bulbs. Later, when the sprouts developed roots, I divided the clump into 3 plants. All 3 plants bloomed that fall, all 3 are still alive and I am getting ready to send them to their new owners.

Could you post a picture of them before you do? I'm just curious.