Progressively smaller bulbs + other issues

[wahaj]

Hiya! right....I bought this on 2 April 2007 I believe from Eden project. It had 2 beautiful sprays of flowers that were twice as tall as the plant and there were probably more than 25-30 flowers per spike. I think it's an oncidium.

Now obviously I didn't care for it that well last year but since March this year I have been trying....so it's had a full year of neglect



Now as you can see there is a lot of pleating, but that's to do with the erratic watering in the past. Now as you can see it seems to be enjoying it's conditions as it's putting out a lot of roots, all the way round the plant.



This thing is, intially the old pseudobulbs starting to shrivel up so I changed medium, and growing conditions (changed humidity, lighting, watering etc). Now it's formed about 4 new bulbs I think, but they're tiny! Look at the size of the old shrivelled bulb in the back, and the size of the 2 new ones either side of it. Or will they get bigger as the season goes on?



Now is this because of neglect over the last year.....and that bulbs should starting increasing in size from next year....or do we think there's other problem I should be addressing?

I should be happy that this little flowering spike is coming....but because it's coming from a tiny bulb....does that mean it's not gonna be a great show?



Could the problem be (and would you agree) that this plant needs dividing? It looks like it's very tighly packed together, also the plant seems to now have a natural divide in the middle where 2 parts seem to be pushing apart and leaning away from each other.



the right size has 1 old shrivelled bulb, 2 new small bulbs and 2 new growths and the right side has 2 old shrivelled bulbs, 2 new small bulbs and 1 new growth....

thanks for any suggestions etc!

[unhappykat]

The smaller bulbs are most likely from the neglect and stress but they have not matured enough to show their overall size. The plant is growing simmilar to Colmanaras which are hybrids in the oncidium/ondontoglossum alliances. It may have only one growth period each and sometimes the growths bloom before they mature or even if their very small as long as the previous growth is large enough to sustain the expenditure of energy by the new growth. The new growths in the picture are not begining to swell yet so they may still produce a larger bulb than what is expected but it will certainly be smaller than the previous growth. The already matured growth will no longer enlarge but it is just as healthy as the larger growth. Dont divide it for another year or two, the growing mix looks good and oncidium/odontoglossum hybrids resent being divided too soon as well as being repotted. I would wait until the plant begins to send roots over the pots edge before repotting unless you have very humid conditions. If you do want to repot wait until the last growth matures and do it before the next lead begins to show.