Too many pseudobulbs?

[Wendy76]

This, I believe, is Colmanara Masai Red. Not entirely sure. She is going a little crazy with pseudobulbs. 5 mature, 2 maturing and an additional 2 new growths just forming. So hopefully she will end up with a total of 9 pseudobulbs. My question is this, is there such a thing as too many for one orchid? I prefer to keep her large, rather than dividing, only if that's OK. Thoughts?


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[voyager]

My personal opinion is that the is no such thing as too many PBs.
I have used keiki grow paste to increase the number of new PBs in order to increase the size of the orchid more quickly.

From your description, you have a young vigorously growing plant. I'd do nothing to discourage that.
The only time it might be considered to have too many PBs is when the oldest ones begin to finally die off as the rest of the plant sucks all the remaining nutrients from them, then remove them.

[Wendy76]

So just keep upping the pot size to accommodate?


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[jkofferdahl]

I completely agree with Voyager. Most of my orchids are monopodial, but when they grow keikis I try to keep them with the parent plant. More active growth makes for a showier bloomer, in my opinion. My preference, of course, is for larger, showier plants. So yes, I would just transpot the plant into a larger one, with room to grow.

Others could argue that yours may be a plant ready for dividing. By doing so, you end up with two plants. They'll grow and be happy (but I think they'll miss some of the energy the larger plant could share). As the separate plants grow you can perhaps then plan to let one expand and one only get large enough to further divide. Again, I go for showy over numbers.

[Ray]

I, too, agree wholeheartedly.

Sympodial orchids grow as a colony that shares nutrients, water, and energy, and a bigger colony the more resilient it will be.

[Fernando]

This is still a little plant. I wouldn't divide it. I wouldn't repot it either. All looks very healthy to me. Imagine how it looks with three to five sprays of flowers!

[Dollythehun]

I recently divided a 10 pbulb Wilsonara. It was crowded in the pot and it was a big pot. My reasoning was that I have little space for a larger pot and my friend would enjoy the division. It probably wasn't " necessary," so I would ask "why" are you thinking of dividing. After you have answered this, and with your new information, make an intelligent, informed decision.

[bil]

That just looks normal. Below a certain size, flowering spikes are sparse.

I have one like it, all I got was one spike, maybe twice a year, then it crossed a growth point a year ago, and then it had 5 or 6 spikes at a time.

[PaphMadMan]

This falls into the category of questions that I summarize as "My orchid is too healthy. What's wrong with it?" ONLY orchid growers ask these questions. We need to learn to worry less, relax and enjoy more.

They do get more challenging to pot as they get big, but I wouldn't even consider dividing this until it is on its second round of growth after the current round is mature, unless a piece basically falls off when repotting.

It does look like the plant formerly known as Colmanara MASAI RED, but that name is no longer valid and it isn't a simple change. It was registered as a hybrid of unknown parentage, so I don't know how they ever determined it should be Colmanara. Later it was determined to be the same as a registered hybrid now called Oncostele Midnight Miracles (Rhynchostele bictoniense x Oncidium cariniferum) and the registration for MASAI RED was withdrawn. Once upon a time that would have been Odontoglossum, but never even close to Colmanara.

[bil]

Originally Posted by PaphMadMan

This falls into the category of questions that I summarize as "My orchid is too healthy. What's wrong with it?" ONLY orchid growers ask these questions. We need to learn to worry less, relax and enjoy more.

I agree. I think that like the Hitchhiker's guide to the universe, orchid info and books should always start with the words 'Don't panic!'