Why are my pseudobulbs never as plump and smooth as they are in the store?????

[astrid]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Oncidium culture can be tricky. Many of them need quite a bit of water and yet the roots rot easily. There are many ways to solve this puzzle. I have mine growing in either lava rock or Aliflor (expanded clay pellets) and basket pots and I water them each time until the roots turn green. With this type of pot and medium, it is very difficult to rot out the roots.

I like the idea of your system, but for me it won't work. I hate hate hate to think about watering plants daily (I am sure I would kill a plant that needed daily water!!), so certain orchid types fit my lifestyle of weekly or bi-weekly waterings better!

I also have oncidiums with whitish roots. They never go green, and only have green growth tips. They kinda just stay beige no matter what I do.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by astrid

I like the idea of your system, but for me it won't work. I hate hate hate to think about watering plants daily (I am sure I would kill a plant that needed daily water!!), so certain orchid types fit my lifestyle of weekly or bi-weekly waterings better!

This will limit your choice, imo.

I still think the best fit for you are Oeceoclades and Dockrillia, maybe Dendrobium normanbyense, or Dendrobium equitans.

Dendrobium equitans have succulent leaves and are able to withstand little water. Their flowers may be 1/2", but they are very fragrant and cute. Flowers don't last very long, but they will tolerate being watered once or twice a week very well.

Dendrobium normanbyense is tough as nails. They're very easy to grow. The blooms are about 1.25" wide and 1" tall. They have unusually beautiful flowers that can last for a week.

Originally Posted by astrid

I also have oncidiums with whitish roots. They never go green, and only have green growth tips. They kinda just stay beige no matter what I do.

The whitish roots with the green tips are alive. The ones that "stay beige no matter what", they're dead.

I don't think this particular Onc's pseudobulb will be smooth again. Older pseudobulbs on these tend to stay wrinkled. You can still make the newer pseudobulbs look nice and smooth. Just grow more roots, and water 2 - 3 times a week and you just might get what you like seeing.

[Ferns Daddy]

I have a noid oncidium growing in lave stone it gets watered 2x week and the pb still has wrinkles but its blooming, I mist all my oncidiums ever day and keep the humility about 70% with a ceiling fan moving the air

[snowflake311]

Could you change your potting mix? I use moss in my bark mix and I do 50-50% or sometimes 70% moss. The moss allows me to do less watering because it retains a lot of water.

[Daethen]

How about instead of just watering it give it an overnight soak a couple of times a week. Then it can dry the roots out in between. I do this often with my onc. They seem to love it. Tons of new growth and getting spikes. Plus lots of them plump up and lose most of the wrinkles they had. As soon as I start to see wrinkles again I soak.

[astrid]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

The whitish roots with the green tips are alive. The ones that "stay beige no matter what", they're dead.

KOOG,
If all the roots that stay beige on my oncidium type orchids are dead roots, then my orchids would have zero living roots and be completely dead. But so far, all my oncidium type orchids have beige roots that just kinda stay that color and the newest roots they put out are white.

I think we have some subjective color interpretation miscommunication going on here.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by astrid

KOOG,
If all the roots that stay beige on my oncidium type orchids are dead roots, then my orchids would have zero living roots and be completely dead. But so far, all my oncidium type orchids have beige roots that just kinda stay that color and the newest roots they put out are white.

I think we have some subjective color interpretation miscommunication going on here.

Nope. On your next repotting, wet those beige roots, and gently pull on them, see what you get. A large majority are most likely dead. Very few of those beige ones are really alive. The white ones with the green tips are the ones that are 100%, without a doubt, alive.

The dead roots on an orchid will have the velamen layer slough off, leaving behind a stringy center. That stringy center is the root's xylem and phloem which mostly consists of non-living cells and acts as the plant's nutrient and water transport system.

The reason why people are saying that roots will turn green when they get watered is because a large majority of the epiphytic orchids have green pigments in their root cells when they are exposed to light, called chlorophyll. Yeah, I said it correctly and I'm not confused. Yes, those living roots have chlorophyll, which means they can photosynthesize. Again, no bs, I'm totally for real on this.

Orchids do not necessarily die right away when their roots are dead. Many will persist until they grow new growths and/or new roots.

I've been growing orchids for 23 years, (ever since I was 13 years old). I also took a class in botany at one of the top notch junior colleges here in Los Angeles County, (a school that was shooting to become a part of the Cal State University system), and aced the class back in 2008. The botany instructor also teaches at Cal Tech.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by snowflake311

The only one of my orchids that wrinkled on me and will not get smooth is my Spider orchid. The biggest Growth was smooth now has some wrinkles that will not go away. BUT this bulb is growing a new bulb. So I wonder, maybe when in active growth do the Bulbs tend to wrinkle more?

My Zygo I just bought had almost Shriveled raisin like bulbs when I took it home. They have plumped up a bit. They are the old growth anyways. They get wrinkles with age just like us. I do not think they will ever be perfect. So all I can do is focus on the new growth.

When they are in active growth mode, any living things in that matter, they need a lot of water and any underwatering during this crutial phase will show up somewhere.

---------- Post added at 05:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:27 PM ----------

Beige roots are not necessarily dead.
You actually cannot accurately tell whether roots are dead or not by just looking at them unless they look horrible. lol

Astrid- You are right in that newly growing roots are white and as they age, they get stained by bark or fertilizer salts and turn beige. or in my case, they turn green with all the algea bloom going on the root surface. lol

---------- Post added at 05:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:30 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Daethen

How about instead of just watering it give it an overnight soak a couple of times a week. Then it can dry the roots out in between. I do this often with my onc. They seem to love it. Tons of new growth and getting spikes. Plus lots of them plump up and lose most of the wrinkles they had. As soon as I start to see wrinkles again I soak.

That is a good thing to do except you don't have to soak overnight.
Good one hour or so of soaking will generally plump up (maybe more than once depending on the severity of the dehydration) if the oncidiums affected are the type that plump back up.

As long as I have enough time, I always soak all my orchids when watering them. This seems to work very well. Orchids get to drink up and the potting mix gets cleaned, or so I hope.

[tarev]

Looking at your Onc photos, my comment will be on the bark mix, looks quite chunky. I try to use finer grade bark mix, not the bigger chunky ones. It seems the finer ones works better for my Onc. since the roots are thinner. The chunky ones, usually go to my Phals or Catts.

You can certainly dunk water your Onc, just take note of what your temps are indoors and do it early part of the day, so media does not stay too damp, and while doing that run the ceiling fan to help in drying out later.

[Optimist]

Here's my guess. Young bulbs are plump. I have some awesome plump bulbs, but only a few per plant. Even here in the desert, and I am not the most mindful orchid parent! So, the difference. Young bulbs. They sell young orchids, Two or Three bulbs. The first few bulbs do not bloom. They build and store energy for the first flower. That is like 3 to 5 years in some species. After it matures enough, it blooms. That is when you buy it. Then that bulb never blooms again. No more blooms. It becomes a feeder bulb, providing its life force to the new young bulbs. So, if you have had an orchid long, most bulbs are old feeders, and a few are young new bulbs. Orchids grow slowly, and eventually all those bulbs shrivel.usually just the lead bulbs are fresh and plump. Even in Iris and other rizomous plants you see that the new plant is the sexually active plant (the flower)while the old plants act in a support capacity, storing energy, photosynthisising.