Also...about Sharry Baby orchids

[shayna71708]

I adore these plants and I have about five or six different plants. I'd like to eventually pot them all together and make a BIG plant out of them, but right now they're just in their own pots.

I've got three dormant ones right now whose spikes I just cut off. There's lots of new growth on these (the things that look like really thin pineapples I guess)...but no new spikes. Some of them have been dormant a couple of months.

Is there a way to get an estimate on when the spikes will start to come out of the new growths, and where they will come from? One of them is outside while the weather is gorgeous, but still nothing besides those really super thin pineapple looking things, almost like if you made a pseudobulb like, one inch across instead of the several inches that I usually see.

[WhiteRabbit]

Yes, sounds like you have new growth. These spike on recently matured growths, so when the new growth you have is fully developed, they may spike.

These do grow like weeds once they get going, so I'd be hesitant to pot multiple ones together - Mine I got in a 4" pot three years ago. I've already potted it up three times, most recently into a 10" pot, which I suspect may only hold it less than a year.

[Leafmite]

If you wish to plant these together, get an old bathtub, a discarded telephone pole, or children's swimming pool! As said, these guys expand quickly! Think of divisions in terms of zucchini (you eventually run out of people to which to give them). : )

[shayna71708]

Thank you! I must be crazy, but I think I seriously considered briefly the idea of a bathtub full of sharry baby spikes...lol!

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by shayna71708

Thank you! I must be crazy, but I think I seriously considered briefly the idea of a bathtub full of sharry baby spikes...lol!

hehe


ETA: I was out watering, and looking at my Sharry Baby in it's 10" pot, I realized if I let it go a couple more years without dividing it just may need a bathtub!

[NYCorchidman]

If I had enough space by the window or if I lived in a warm place with a garden, I would totally have a bathtub full of these!
On the second thought, by the window would not be such a good idea as you would most likely get too high and pass out when bathtub-full flower show is on! lol

[Leafmite]

Shayna's has a nice idea. It would be cool to buy a few twinkles and other mini oncidiums and fill a container. The different blooms would be pretty.