Thinning versus dividing overgrown healthy plants.

[silken]

Originally Posted by bil

I do so hate it when people do that.

I do too. I think I have a large mature plant and instead I have 2 large seedlings.

[daddydoall]

Well I thinned (twisted off) all the older prior bloomed parts of a large oncidium hybrid (type that blooms on new growth) after then new growths were looking vibrant to make room. The new growth all matured at the same time and provided me with 10 spikes each with 50-70 blooms / spike in a 8" clay pot, it was spectacular and the hit at or society meeting. So it can work with this type at least this time.
Dave

[Ray]

One of the potential pitfalls of pruning versus dividing is medium decomposition.

When you divide a plant, you typically repot the segments into fresh medium. If you merely pluck out old, dead plant matter, you're playing Russian roulette with the remaining plants.