Tiger Crow Golden Girl

[NYCorchidman]

Sonya- I see what you're saying. Don't get me wrong, I'm very loving and noramlly take great care of living things.
When I repot paphs and phals, I take great care not to damage any root at all. Oncidiums normally have soooo much roots that I just can't get new potting media get in between those roots, thus plants falling over or wobbly. so I decided to just cut way a great chunk hoping they will make a lot more new ones. hehehe

Cymbidiums, you have to half or so away each time you repot unless you plant to grow them out in the garden or super sized pot. Their roots are super thick and they grow many!

By the way, all the oncidiums I repotted are alive. but pbs are getting more wrinkles on them, so I guess they are losing water more than they can absorb. hmmm maybe I should trim off some more leaves to balance the water gain/loss.

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by NYCorchidman

Sonya- I see what you're saying. Don't get me wrong, I'm very loving and noramlly take great care of living things.
When I repot paphs and phals, I take great care not to damage any root at all. Oncidiums normally have soooo much roots that I just can't get new potting media get in between those roots, thus plants falling over or wobbly. so I decided to just cut way a great chunk hoping they will make a lot more new ones. hehehe

Cymbidiums, you have to half or so away each time you repot unless you plant to grow them out in the garden or super sized pot. Their roots are super thick and they grow many!

By the way, all the oncidiums I repotted are alive. but pbs are getting more wrinkles on them, so I guess they are losing water more than they can absorb. hmmm maybe I should trim off some more leaves to balance the water gain/loss.

Aw - I didn't mean to sound like I thought you were a bad plant parent (I don't!) I know some people do this, and it works for them - I just couldn't bring myself to do it. I know what you are saying about Cyms - I have a few (mostly in big pots!) - haven't been able to bring myself to cut off roots - tho as I think I may need to divide some soon, that may have to be done - I'll just have to see when I get in there.

Last summer an OB member sent me some plant divisions, and on the two Catt alliance plants he had clipped off all the roots, except for new root nubs (he had warned me previously, I guess so I wouldn't freak out when I got them) Very experienced grower, so he knows what he's doing, and he explained how doing it at the right time that plants should be fine. Well - one of those plants now has buds (as well as nice root growth), the other has a sheath (and nice root growth also)

Early in my orchid growing, I always struggled with keeping roots happy, so I suppose that has something to do with my inability to even think about cutting roots lol

[NYCorchidman]

I got what you're saying, but thanks for being so conciderate.

By the way, plants like cymbidium, if you don't cut away roots when you repot them, you risk root rot.
They have so much root and grow lots more every year. so some get sort of suffocated and die, which keeps too moist stuck between one another, causing roots near by or most likely in contact, to rot also. not to mention poor drainage.
This is not the case if you grow them outside or in a very large net basket that allow air flow very nicely.
Most people grow cymbidiums in tall plastic pots. so this is something you might want to consider.

By the way, my oncidiums are all getting super wrinkly. really need to trim some leaves off to balance out water loss I think. funny enough the new shoots are all growing. maybe they are using the water saved in their pb causing them to wrinkle more and more.

[WhiteRabbit]

When I repot Cyms - I get into the root mass and cut away dead roots in the center. So far that's worked well for me, but will keep your advice in mind.

I don't know about cutting off foliage - you are probably right that the new growth is taking the stored food and water from the older pbulbs. I notice Onc pbulbs generally wrinkle a bit when new there is new growth. But they need the foliage for photosynthesis to make food.

[NYCorchidman]

Ok, if you do trim away the dead roots in the center, it should be good. Cutting is not a must, it's more of convenience on growers part (reduced risk of root rot and keeping them in pots). sometimes cyms will break pots with roots they grow if there's not enough space.

Regarding oncidium pb getting wrinkly, I really hated it at first, but it seems like it is something that I have to live with it. It's just the aesthtics. They seem to grow fine.

When I buy oncidium types, the pbs are always firm with no wrinkles and then after spending some time at my place, they all get wrinkly to varying degree. Once they are formed, they never go away, which is annoying.

I do have two miltonidiums that gets slightly wrinkly when dry, and then plump up once I water them good.
I like that!

Leaves are needed to make food for plants, but they also lose water. so I trimmed some off because I cut away good chunk of their roots.

[Lagoon]

Grow them in peatmoss and perlite, repotting is a joke even with a massive root system. They LOVE peat!

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by Lagoon

Grow them in peatmoss and perlite, repotting is a joke even with a massive root system. They LOVE peat!

This is coming from your personal experience, right? I'm counting on you and really going to try on my next repotting session. If my plants die, I'm coming to find you!

Well, I thought about using moss because, as you mentioned, it will be much easier with roots coming off easy. The only orchid I grow in moss are phals.
Thing is I tend to overwater plants in moss. hmmm
Maybe if I plant them rather loose, it shouldn't be a big problem. then I would need strong stake as my plants are rather big sized and they tend to get wobbly.

By the way, you use peat moss not those sphagnum moss? Isn't peat moss too acidic?? where do you get them? do you use the one from a big box store peat moss that are really fine and half decayed sort???
do you only use peat moss? what other orchid have you had success using peat moss?

sorry lots of questions, but I need to know as much as possible so I don't kill my plants.

Thanks in advance!

[Miri the Wildmage]

I have this orchid. Not as big as yours though! Did you try cinnamon extract on the spots? Might help.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by Miri the Wildmage

I have this orchid. Not as big as yours though! Did you try cinnamon extract on the spots? Might help.

I did hear so many times about the "potential" anti-fungal property of cinnamon, but I do not believe it much anymore after using it many times and do not see any improvement at all.

cinnamon is rather common, harmless, cheap, so if it worked really well as funguside, then I don't think there will be so many strong chemical brangs out there.

It's been very frustrating though, because with almost all oncidium types hve spots and streaks of some sort. and I always trim the affected leaves off. If it happens again or look too unsightly, I just dumped them out.

So far, my Golden Girl hasn't developed any major spots since I last trimmed off some big chunks.
The new growths are starting to get some medium sized spots, which worry me though.

If it spreads further and I get bothered, it will be dumped. It's just not worth trying to save something worrying and stressing over it when it's easily available plant.

Less stress, happier life for me

[Miri the Wildmage]

Nah, you're right, I'm using cinnamon on a plant with crown rot and it just goes on dying. My golden girl has had some black spots for years but they have never spread, so I've never had to deal with them.