Cute new grocery store NoID Oncidium (or maybe Oncostele)

[JScott]

Picked up this guy at the grocery store today. They usually only have Phals, but today they had this Oncidium (looks to me like it might have some Rhynchostele in it, but a NoID is a NoID so I can't be sure). Anyway, I just thought it was cute and wanted to share. I love the big, fat pseudobulbs, and the color combination is great.

[estación seca]

Let it get some morning sun. It might be fragrant.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Let it get some morning sun. It might be fragrant.

I have it in my bedroom right now on my night table right by an east facing window, so it will definitely get the morning sun, so we shall see. I hope you're right! Thanks, ES.

[JScott]

ES, you were absolutely right. THe east sun is pouring through that window right now, and the flowers do in fact have a pleasant fragrance. It seems light to me, but I suffered a traumatic brain injury when I was 20 years old, and it permanently screwed up my sense of smell and taste. I had to put my nose right up to the flowers to smell it, but a non- brain damaged person could probably smell it much more strongly.

[Leafmite]

That is a really nice find! Congratulations!

(just a little envious as there is never anything as nice locally here....)

[estación seca]

Before people think I'm an orchid psychic... The lip on that orchid looks like it came from Oncidium fuscatum, widely used in hybridizing, which often passes on fragrance to its progeny. Look up the species.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Before people think I'm an orchid psychic... The lip on that orchid looks like it came from Oncidium fuscatum, widely used in hybridizing, which often passes on fragrance to its progeny. Look up the species.

I don't believe in psychics, so I was sure that you had a valid scientific reason for being able to predict that it was going to fragrant. That's no less impressive than being a psychic, tho. Maybe even more so.

---------- Post added at 02:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:02 PM ----------

I googled Oncidium fuscatum just now, and I bet you're right. The lip does bear a strong resemblance to the lip on my plant. When I first saw it, I thought maybe it had a little bit of Rhynchostele in it. I don't have a scientific basis for that, it's just a feeling I have based on thy way it looks, and I could be totally wrong, but it seems like a lot of those grocery store NoID Oncidiums now are actually Oncosteles.

---------- Post added at 02:06 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 PM ----------

Originally Posted by Leafmite

That is a really nice find! Congratulations!

(just a little envious as there is never anything as nice locally here....)

Usually all they have are Phals. Occasionally in the late winter/early spring they have some Cymbidiums, which are hard to impossible to flower here, so I was surprised to see this plant there. They don't usually have intergeneric Oncids.

---------- Post added at 02:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:06 PM ----------

And based on the plants current health status, they must not have had it long. I slipped it out of the pot before I bought it, and it's planted in a bark mix and the roots look good and the pseudobulbs are nice and fat, so it must have arrived recently enough that they didn't have time to damage it yet with their negligence.

---------- Post added at 02:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:08 PM ----------

I know we have Trader Joe's in DFW, but I'm not sure where the closest one is, so I never go, but I heard they have a good selection of Orchids. Mostly NoIDS, but nice all the same. I always mean to go check them out, but haven't got around to it yet. With such great places as SVO and Hausermann's and Odom's, I hardly see a need to go shopping locally for unidentified plants.

[estación seca]

I've noticed in Arizona and California that Trader Joe's always has a better assortment of orchids than the local supermarkets, most of which have only Phals. Many are NOIDs, but if you look at all the individuals on the stand of the same plant, often one will have a name tag.

[Leafmite]

The closest Trader Joes is in Pittsburgh, the last I looked and they did not have a very good selection the last time I was there (except for the french lavender). With the orchid shows canceled and our meetings now by Zoom, I buy all my orchids online as that is the only real choice but for the Justaddice Phals.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by estación seca

I've noticed in Arizona and California that Trader Joe's always has a better assortment of orchids than the local supermarkets, most of which have only Phals. Many are NOIDs, but if you look at all the individuals on the stand of the same plant, often one will have a name tag.

Maybe I'll have to find the closest TJ's and check out what they've got. I'd love to find some nobile type Dendrobiums, but I would wait until December or January to look for those. In my limited experience with nobiles, I get a lot more blooms out of the ones that bloom early from the current year's canes. I can keep them outside until November, and by then the buds have started and they bloom like crazy in December and January. The ones I've tried that bloom in the spring from last year's canes just don't bloom much for me. I think it's because I have to keep them inside where it is too warm during the time when they would be forming buds for spring blooms. That's just based on anecdotal evidence, but it has held true for me so far. December bloomers put on a great show for me and are just covered. April bloomers give me like three blooms lol. But I don't need to be buying any more orchids at the moment. I have orders from like three different nurseries I'm expecting this week (Marlows, Hausermann, SVO, and then I also ordered a Toshie Aoki 'Encore' from a nursery I've never tried before, and I don't now recall the name of that one). So I'm done buying new plants for the summer. Or at least until my birthday in September lololol (and I looked at my driving app just now, and it looks like the closest TJ's is in Fort Worth, about 28 minutes away, so that's not bad. I would drive that far for orchids lol)