Sacrificing leaf to promote flowers??

[orchidjunky]

Just out of curiosity...

I know for paphs its common to see the bottom leaf turn yellow if it's flowering.. but is this also the same for other orchids.. particularly oncidium/odonts?

I have an oncidium hybrid with 8 large flowers on two different spikes.... The plant itself has 5 pseudobulbs and has many leaves but one leaf at the center of all this mess is turning yellow... everything else on the plant is healthy... is this common???

Does the plant sacrifice a leaf for promotion of the flowers if there is not enough watering done.. or is this more of an overwatering issue as to why the leaf is yellowing but the rest remain green..

[Ray]

In my opinion, that only happens if the plant doesn't have the "oomph" necessary to carry both. If a plant has had the light, food, and water necessary to build up its stores, I doubt it will happen as much.

My paphs, for example, don't typically lose leaves when they are blooming.

[orchidjunky]

im a newbie to all this and got addicted rather fast.. so im still figuring out the watering scheduling so I get paranoid if im overwatering not sure if thats the case if it's only one leaf as opposed to everything turning yellow

[snow]

why don,t you try s/h if you are a chronic overwaterer
it cured me

[orchidjunky]

Originally Posted by snow

why don,t you try s/h if you are a chronic overwaterer
it cured me

what is s/h??

[orchidjunky]

Originally Posted by snow

why don,t you try s/h if you are a chronic overwaterer
it cured me

what is s/h??

[razka3]

S/H is Semi-Hydro, Ray has some good information about it on his site...

All about Semi-Hydroponics

Hope that helps some - it is a good solution to over watering, you just have to transfer the plant at the appropriate time for its potential to be maximized (new root growth).