How long do Oncidium Heaven Scent live?

[gardengirl13]

I honestly can't remember when I got this plant, probably 15 years ago. The last couple years it's just been.... blah. The flower spikes don't get very long/tall and only have a few flowers on them, the one a few weeks ago was so far buried in the plant/roots that the flower looked like it was just it and it's little stem and nothing else. I haven't lost a single leaf or bulb in probably 8 years (aside from one leaf that I just lost 6 weeks ago that was burned when I first moved into this house 6 years ago) the others I'm losing them a lot over the last month. The roots seem to be well above the mix so I water up where they are. The new growth seems not quite accordion but bent in various places along the stem (so it's kind of accordion looking but in length not width like I've seen on other plants) and sometimes just doesn't want to open. It's been in the same window (bright, picture, east facing) in almost the exact same spot for 6 years, watering/fert is the same, everyone just got repotted last year and are all settling in very nicely, but for some reason this guy is just going down hill. (I posted a few months ago about damage to another orchid and after giving him a bath every 5 days or so for a couple weeks he's doing much better! The damaged leaves are even looking ok, not great but good enough to help support the plant) so besides this oncidium and a Iwga Apple Blossom and my cocleata who all give me grief from time to time everyone else is doing very well. It's not like I don't know how to care for it, I'm just wondering if I should kind of butcher it and cut out all the old stuff that's been hanging around for the last 10 years or just leave it and see what happens? Is it nearing the end of it's life? I've looked around a bit and can't find longevity for oncidiums, or if they normally just keep going and going growing new bulbs? But like I said this guy has never had old leaves and bulbs go yellow/brown and die back in at least 8 years maybe even longer, it just likes to hold on to every leaf it's ever grown! Is that normal? I want it to thrive and grow better spikes to enjoy it more.

[estación seca]

They can grow indefinitely. If you haven't needed to divide in all this time it hasn't been growing as well as it should have. What are your temperatures? Humidity? Light? How is it potted? The medium? How do you water, and how often? Do you fertilize? If so, what do you use, and how do you mix it?

[Roberta]

When was the last time the plant was repotted? If it hasn't been repotted in 10 years, the medium has no doubt broken down to the point that it is destroying roots, and without roots the plant has no way to take up water so it will be dehydrated. I think that it is time to take it out of the pot, figure out what is good and what is not, pot up the good parts in fresh medium (these do like to stay damp but not wet and airless) and it will be off and running again. (Likely you'll get more than one plant out of it, which also gives you backups... you can put all the pieces back in the same pot, or you can make separate plants) Keep the divisions as large as possible - remove dead stuff but leave the good parts intact as much as possible.

[DirtyCoconuts]

a picture would help too

[gardengirl13]

Originally Posted by estación seca

They can grow indefinitely. If you haven't needed to divide in all this time it hasn't been growing as well as it should have. What are your temperatures? Humidity? Light? How is it potted? The medium? How do you water, and how often? Do you fertilize? If so, what do you use, and how do you mix it?

It hasn't needed dividing but it has grown from a 4" pot to a 6" pot. Temps are household temps (68* in winter and 78* in summer, down to 65* at night at 78* at night in summer) light is just the east window, which in the first house it was in, it was facing the same direction, the last house it was in a heavily shaded west window with an LED light over it (but we were only there for about 19 months) then we moved across the street from the previous house (so almost identical). It's grown well in all locations until the last 2 years or so. It's flowered multiple times every year and has put on lots of new growth until recently. It's potted in terracotta with repotme Phalaenopsis Monterey Dark Imperial Orchid Mix since over the 15 years I've had it, I've found it likes it a little more moisture then other mixes that don't contain moss. I fert weekly weakly with repotme food for rain barrels, and use only rain water, we store it in old water bottles in the basement for winter use. I water when needed, after everyone dries out a bit without getting dry dry, so ranges from every 5 days or so in winter, to every two weeks in summer when it's real humid. Humidity is low in winter and even with AC in summer it's pretty humid in here. Like this year being SOOOO wet it's been like 65% (!!!!!!!!!!!!! our poor house!) for the last 6 months! We use humidifiers near the orchids in winter to keep it around 40%, depends on how cold it gets in can range from 30-50%. But when it's dry I try to pay more attention and mist or water more. Like I said it was repotted last summer/early fall, kept in the same pot since it didn't grow a whole lot, but I cleaned it well before repotting it.

[Roberta]

It sounds like it doesn't need repotting based on time, but when a plant shows signs of decline, it may still be a good thing to pull it out of the pot to see what is going on. If it has been staying wetter than usual, you still may have lost roots. If, when you get it out of the pot you don't see anything troubling then you can always put it back in without disturbing roots too much. But if there's an issue, you'd want to pounce on it.

[estación seca]

Watering every two weeks in summer is probably not enough. They shouldn't get very dry. That could cause poor growth.