Oncidium rehab

[Orchitty]

Hi. I recently bought a beautiful Onc. Firecracker 'Lucky Strike' that came potted in sphag moss. It had a nice mass of roots wrapped tightly around the moss. After about 2.5 weeks the roots and moss were still damp and the flowers were falling off. I've never had any luck with sphag and didn't want this to kill the roots and plant so I repotted in bark. Problem was that the root ball was so tightly wound around the moss. Figuring there were plenty of healthy roots, I cut a line through one side of the roots to get at the moss. After repotting, over a week, the leaves, though still green, starting disconnecting from the bulbs Some of the bulbs also got soft and one just came apart easily. I have one wrinkled bulb left with some leaves and the mass of roots. Is there any way to rehab this plant? Would love to be able to save it. It was so nice

[Roberta]

If you damaged roots, the plant will shed leaves... if it can no longer take up water and nutrients, then those pseudobulbs become "reserves" (back bulbs) for the next stage of propagation. They will very likely produce new growth, which will grow new roots. (Hard lesson... don't cut roots, especially healthy ones. ) Medium stuck in the roots can be left in place when you repot. Eventually new roots will grow into new medium, and the old will die naturally... at which time old medium comes out easily.

First, as far as flowers falling off, that's natural. Flowers don't last forever. So that alone should not be grounds for panic. Staying too wet was a good sign that you needed to do something, and your choice of medium was good. Hopefully, fairly small bark, since Oncidiums do like to stay damp (but not soggy) Bark will dry out faster (good) so you 'll need to water more often. (Flush water through the medium, don's just spritz, then let it dry out for few days and repeat)

[Orchitty]

Thanks for the response and hope Roberta. I did pot it in fine fir bark with a pot that is just larger than the root ball and plenty of air holes for ventilation. It does dry faster than when in the moss. Crossing my fingers now.