Here is my flowering Oncidium Sharry Baby, a first flowering for this mericlone. I mentioned it above in this thread. It is in a 1 quart/liter deli container with LECA, and has side holes for S/H growing.
It came from Olympic Orchids in October 2020 in a tiny 2"/5cm pot with sphagnum moss. Those of you who have ordered from Olympic know Ellen sends small but very healthy plants. It was smaller than the plants sewagner86 showed at the top of this thread.
It grew through winter 2020/21 in that small pot in my sunroom. In spring 2021 I moved it to this 1 quart/liter deli container with holes drilled for S/H. I did not even remove the medium; I put the whole sphagnum wad into this container. You can still see some of the original sphagnum in this photo, showing the roots.
I took poor care of this plant during the remainder of 2021 due to other issues in my life. It got watered sporadically, less than I should have. I lost some of its companion Oncidiums and some Phals when my growing area got too hot and humid for too long late last summer. Nevertheless many of my Oncidiums grew rapidly, even with erratic watering and almost no fertilizing.
I wrote previously it began flowering in December. It could have been January. I'm not really sure, because it was on a bottom shelf, and I haven't even looked at it since last fall. I just water everything with a hose. Nevertheless, there is a well-advanced new growth that will be flowering soon:
Yes, Sharry Baby is a very vigorous hybrid. But other Onc. hybrids are equally vigorous. People who grow in homes don't realize how well orchids can grow with proper conditions. Many hybrid Oncidiums, and almost all Phalaenopsis, do grow very much faster at higher temperatures than most people keep their homes. Some Onc. hybrids, and Miltoniopsis, are not in this group. But you can find out by reading a little.
As many members here write, the most important things to pay attention to when growing orchids are proper conditions - temperature, humidity, light.
Here at 33 degrees North, I have much more light
in winter than many people living in the northern US, Canada and Europe have
in summer. My growing room has warmer conditions year round than almost anybody growing in a home. So it is not surprising plants that like warmth can grow faster. I recall some time ago an OB members commented Phals grow 1-2 leaves a year. Perhaps in a house; in warm and humid conditions they can grow a dozen or more.
I have seen quite a few OB members who grow in their homes report much better growth and flowering once they put their Phals onto heat mats for the winter.
The lesson here is not to give up and resign oneself to growing orchids slowly. The lesson is to figure out how to give them what they want, or how to pick ones that flourish in the growing conditions we have.
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