Help needed to care for Tolu. Jairak Rainbow

[Adella]

I recently purchased a Tolu. Jairak Rainbow at Canada Blooms.
This is my first orchid and I want this to flourish. Your help would be welcomed.
It is presently receives light from sunrise to sunset in the kitchen. The main window faces south.
I water it from below every 7-10 days.
Do you trim the stalk after blooming?
The plant has 2 other small fans of leaves in the 3 inch pot.
I would be grateful for any suggestions for the care of this plant.
Adella

[Ross]

Welcome Adella. Glad you found this place.

Now for your questions. First, Tolumnia are in the Oncidium group, not Pleurothallis. This should help with culture. They are "new world" orchids found living as twig epiphytes at the top of trees in the Caribbean Islands. Thus they enjoy rather bright light, frequent wettings of roots follwed by drying, etc. They are very drought tolerant, but will appreciate a bit more water while in growth stage (sounds like yours is.) You made an excellent choice as a first if you consider the above. Light sounds fine. I would recommend a brightness that pushes the leaves to a purple color, at least along the edges. My feeling is that you are not watering enough and it may start shrivelling. It can be tricky balancing enough water with not rotting the roots. How is it potted? Mine is in really big charcoal chunks, primarily to stabilized the plant. If you water and it pours out the bottom that is OK. Pour water through the pot. Pure water like rain water, distilled water Reverse Osmosis water, is what it wants. Mine gets every other day soaking in a mix of MSU blend fertilizer mixed to 125ppm Nitrogen mixed in RO water. See Plant Nutrition for some free info. Check the "free information" page of Ray's site for additional stuff like fertilizer calculator so you can use whatever fertilizer you choose.

For Jairak Rainbow, I trim the stalk after last flower falls. In my experience this cultivar will not rebloom on same stalk. Other cultivars may, so when you aquire others in future, wait to see what happens before cutting the stalk.

2 small fans is a good sign. These should become blooming size by next spring or late winter.

Here is link to my contribution after a year of careful culture. Tolumnia Jairak Rainbow 'Pink'

Hope this helps and answers your questions. Once again, welcome.

[stefpix]

I have one and actually the flower stalk appears to rebloom from lower nodes. so I would not cut it unless it is dried up.

[WhiteRabbit]

Tolus like to be drenched then dry quickly - they are generally grown mounted, or in very small clay pots with either no media, or a small amount of fast drying media (charcoal, treefern fiber)

[stefpix]

Charcoal works best for me.
I killed 2 Tolumnias in the past but the Better Grow ones that I got at Lowes appear to be thriving and reblooming and putting out new growth.

Just charcoal in a net pot and the other in a small clay pot.

stefano

[ezil]

Hi and welcome!

I have quite a few tolus (they can become very addictive!) and grow them all mounted. As everybody has already said - they like to be watered frequently and dry out within a couple of hours.
I don't know where you live, but here in Alberta it means that in bright, sunny conditions and a heated environment, even in winter, every morning watering, but in dull conditions, only every other day or less.
I fertilize a lot less than I maybe should (about once a week) but they all bloom at least once a year.

They do seem to be quite prone to scale, so as soon as you see signs of these pests, take action. Otherwise -they are very rewarding and can become quite quickly specimen plants.

Good luck