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

[Ray]

I believe there are two aspects to this. One is the "what does it do at this stage of the game" Optimist explained, and the other is just a basic reality - a simple "balancing act".

The pseudobulb is the "storage tank" of the plant. If we supply sufficient water to the plant as it grows, so that the supply meets-, or exceeds the demand, then the pseudobulb swells to its fullest extent as it grows. Maintain the water supply and it stays nice and plump. Shirk on your water-delivery responsibility, and it shrinks.

Assuming we have the interest and time to keep it up, the most significant problems in maintaining the "overly-sufficient" water supply is maintenance of the medium and its effect on airflow to the root system. We "let it dry between waterings" to avoid root rot, so are short-changing the plant, and the pseudobulbs shrink.

find a way to provide "infinite" water without suffocating the roots, and your pseudobulbs will always be good and plump.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

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?

Some Oncs will have older pseudobulbs wrinkle with age. Some will not.

Originally Posted by snowflake311

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.

This is typical of many Zygopetalums I've seen. The older pseudobulbs tend to be wrinkly, but still plump. The younger pseudobulbs will be plump and have that smooth look. There is no point in trying to smooth out the older pseudobulbs with Zygos. That's just how they behave. The older pseudobulbs will not become smooth again once they've wrinkled. So, yes, you're correct.

Originally Posted by tarev

In my Onc. I notice the newer bulbs are more plump while the older ones are more wrinkled, but they feel very stiff, not at all mushy, so I am reassured it is just being itself, looking haggardly thirsty.

During summer I deliberately put them in standing water even for a couple of days, and they do not mind, I do see some improvement on the very wrinkled pbs but those marks just stay at the very outer part, but it tries to drink as much as it can. It is very dry and very low humidity here in our area anyways, so it is a much welcome relief for the Onc.

But during colder season, just to be on the side of caution, I do not let them stand in water, but I do water them, just running water enough for the roots to be wet maybe once a week. It does not go dry fast anyways because of the cooler temps.

It is actually a nice incoming winter for me...Wils Hilda Plumtree 'Purple Wings' is in an off season bloom and my Onc 'Sharry Baby' is in spike...both having those wrinkly pbs, but the pb where the spike/blooms emanate are quite plump and chubby..only the older ones are wrinkly. And I notice how much it likes light, so both have very nice positions by my south facing windows.

What you're observing is typical for some Oncs, not all. You're validating what a lot of people are saying. You're not alone on this.

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

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.

True.

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

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

The key words are, "not necessarily dead". I agree with you to a certain degree. I also didn't say all of the beige ones were dead on my follow-up post. I said that most of those roots are most likely not alive anymore. If she wanted to know how many are actually dead or alive, do what I call the "pull test". It is exactly what I described. It is far better than eyeballing things.

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

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

Not necessarily in every case. Yes, there is a possibility/probability that live roots can be beige as a result of being stained by the tannins from the wood chips, I'm not arguing this, but would you also agree that not all of them are alive and stained beige due to tannins. Would you hedge your bets that there are those beige roots that are actually dead, or is it safe to assume with 100% certainty that it is not a possibility at all?

In any case, I think the "pull test" will tell the tale of which are still alive and stained by tannins and which are truly dead irrespective of what the probabilities are.

It is also a possibility/probability that an orchid's roots may have algae growing on the velamen layer, but this is not always the case, and this was not what some people who posted about it were meaning. They meant exactly what I described…photosynthetic roots. You want to test this one out too - if you see green on the orchid's roots, try wiping it off. If you can wipe it off, that's algae. If you cannot wipe it off no matter how hard you try, that's chlorophyll, because eventually if you rub hard enough, and you can't get the green off because it ain't algae, you're gonna rub the root raw and damage it. Chlorophyll are pigments that are contained in cellular organelles called chloroplasts. Chloroplasts are inside the plant's cells. You're not rubbing the green chlorophyll pigments off a plant without damaging it somehow.

You can also test out and observe photosynthesis and chlorophyll distribution in the roots on an individual orchid. Check out the living roots that have been growing inside an opaque pot. Notice how the living roots tend to be whitish with a translucent white growing tip. That's because that's what a bunch of cells without pigmentation looks like. Then check out the roots that have been exposed to light on the same plant, and notice how the body of the roots turn green when you water them, and they will tend to have green growing tips. That green's chlorophyll, and it became that way because of the chloroplasts actively photosynthesizing.

Astrid - once you get good at this, you can tell on your own. You just need the mileage. The more orchids you grow, and the longer you grow them for, you'll learn eventually.

Originally Posted by 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.

This is a fairly good illustration. I will not really add anything to this.

[Leafmite]

Oncidiums tend to be very tough and will keep trying to live, start new growths, and bloom up until they run completely out of energy...then they die. Some of them live in very harsh conditions and can last a long time with mistreatment. I think their tenacity is what makes them very popular for sale.

[astrid]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

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.

WOW! Plants have CHLOROPHYLL?! WHAT!
You mean they use photo-syn... synthesis to make ENERGY from LIGHT?!?!

Wow, KOOG, this news is entirely shocking!
No wonder every time I tried to feed my orchids a steak they didn't even chew it...

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and your comments would be a lot better received if they didn't have such an air of condescension.

[801229001]

Originally Posted by astrid

WOW! Plants have CHLOROPHYLL?! WHAT!
You mean they use photo-syn... synthesis to make ENERGY from LIGHT?!?!

Wow, KOOG, this news is entirely shocking!
No wonder every time I tried to feed my orchids a steak they didn't even chew it...

In other news, the sky is blue, water is wet, and your comments would be a lot better received if they didn't have such an air of condescension.

Astrid, I think that what he was trying to say is that the ROOTS have chlorophyll, lots of orchids, unlike most other plants, have large amounts of chlorophyll in their root systems so that they can use their roots to absorb sunlight in the same way as leaves, that is why lots of orchid growers use CLEAR pots, when the roots are not exposed to any light, they may stay beige so the roots of your plants may or may not be dead!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Astrid, there's no condescension.

Not every plant out there has photosynthetic roots.

There are some. But not all.

Even a few terrestrial plants have roots that have photosynthetic abilities, but not every single one of them retained this trait.

I think I'm done with this thread.

[euplusia]

I had the chance to visit a commercial nursery. To keep plants in active growth, they run fairly high temps. They water automatically regularly 3 times in the morning. With every watering plants receive water for 3-5 minutes. Intervalls between watering is about 45 minutes. With every watering plants are fertilized, but I did not measure the concentration.
After a few months they must bring buds and are ready to be sold on the market.

In my greenhouse wintertime is rest time.