watering oncidium

[hanzy08]

my oncidium is pushing out 3 new growths this time of the year and I have been watering about every other day or when the media dries out which can be really quick but then i saw the leaf on the new growth showing signs of pleating and the pseudobulbs are not as plump. I saw a video on youtube of this oncidium that has really fat pseudobulbs and the lady said that she soaks it for 4-5 hours whenever she waters now i don't know how often that is so i might try her technique in watering cause she said they don't get plumped just by running water under it.
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[billc]

Leaving the plant submerged for 4-5 hours seems a bit excessive to me. If your leaves are starting to pleat you may want to just water it more frequently.
It's kind of hard to tell from the picture but your mix looks kind of broken down. The pleating may be that the roots down in the mix are not able to take water.

Bill

[WhiteRabbit]

Pleated foliage and shriveled pbulbs can also be from over watering - roots rot, so plant cannot take up water.

Older pbulbs to wrinkle somewhat with time as well. The pbulb I see in your photo looks good to me.
Matured pbulbs also do not re-plump regardless of what caused shrivelling/wrinkles.

Watering every other day sounds a lot to me, unless mix is very fresh bark and/or very small pot and/or an extremely hot and dry climate.

Like I said, the one pbulb I see looks fine, and I don't see pleated foliage ...?

But, if I am missing it and/or you are concerned there's a problem, I would check the roots and use a skewer in the pot / media to help judge when to water.

Soaking is fine, but you should be certain you don't over water.

[hanzy08]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

Pleated foliage and shriveled pbulbs can also be from over watering - roots rot, so plant cannot take up water.

Older pbulbs to wrinkle somewhat with time as well. The pbulb I see in your photo looks good to me.
Matured pbulbs also do not re-plump regardless of what caused shrivelling/wrinkles.

Watering every other day sounds a lot to me, unless mix is very fresh bark and/or very small pot and/or an extremely hot and dry climate.

Like I said, the one pbulb I see looks fine, and I don't see pleated foliage ...?

But, if I am missing it and/or you are concerned there's a problem, I would check the roots and use a skewer in the pot / media to help judge when to water.

Soaking is fine, but you should be certain you don't over water.

thanks for your input whiterabbit. I water every other day because it is planted in pure moss in a clay pot and it dries out really quick when i touch the moss it is very dry and the pot is very light. the pleating is coming out from the new leaf in the picture but the detail is hard to see. I read that oncidiums can be water hogs too during growing season..

---------- Post added at 09:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 PM ----------

Originally Posted by billc

Leaving the plant submerged for 4-5 hours seems a bit excessive to me. If your leaves are starting to pleat you may want to just water it more frequently.
It's kind of hard to tell from the picture but your mix looks kind of broken down. The pleating may be that the roots down in the mix are not able to take water.

Bill

thanks for your input. The mix looks broken down in the picture cause it's wet and it has formed some algae cause of water frequency. I only water when the mix gets dry which is every other day cause it is planted in a clay pot and it is very hot this time of the year.

[WhiteRabbit]

I see a bit of vertical pleating - but very slight. It's horizontal pleating that means the plant is not getting sufficient water.

I'd still suggest using a skewer in the media. Sphag can be dry on top, but still have moisture below the surface.

[ALToronto]

Loosely packed sphagnum in a clay pot can dry out quickly, especially if there is a lot of air movement. I agree about the skewer, though, it's a quick way to find out if it stays too wet in the middle. I have oncidiums potted in chc/bark/charcoal/perlite in clay pots, in front of an open window, and I have to water them every day in the summer. Once the windows are closed and the temperature in the house drops, I water every 2-3 days or even less.