Help identifying

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by 1llum1na73d

I have a few other Oncidium/hybrids that do amazing here in this crazy FLA. environment. 48f this morning, Mid to upper 70's by this afternoon.

That's nearly perfect temperature range! The "big freeze" is past? I saw the pictures of the frozen iguanas that had fallen out of trees.

[estación seca]

Hey OB members... did any of you read the original post before replying?

Not many of the Oncidium hybrids with this kind of flower are fragrant, so there is a good chance it is a named clone. Keep looking and you will probably find it. Have you tried doing an Internet search on "fragrant Oncidium" or "fragrant Colmanara" or "fragrant Odontocidium"?

The idea of watering before fertilizing is antique. You should not water before fertilizing. If you do so, the roots are saturated with water. They can't take up the fertilizer solution, and you are wasting fertilizer. At universities with agricultural schools, they teach to fertilize dry roots.

The problem might have been too high a fertilizer concentration. Or you might not have watered enough overall - an Oncidium hybrid in bloom is very thirsty.

[1llum1na73d]

" The idea of watering before fertilizing is antique. You should not water before fertilizing."

You may be correct about over fertilizing. Over the past year I watered everything before applying, but it sounds like I'm wasting it. I might go with an extended release dry fertilizer for orchids. I'm way too scared to try watering the roots dry. I lost 3 others along with this one, (Dendrobium unknown hybrid, a mini Phal., and a regular Phal.) I have a Paph. that survived with no burn at all, go figure?

About the fragrance of the Unknown Onc. hybrid, I'm thinking that maybe it was mixed with "Sharry Baby". I won't know for sure until the one I have (Sharry Red Fantasy) blooms for me. This thing had a very strong, intoxicating, sweet, scent. I've been obsessed with getting it back.

---------- Post added at 08:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:05 PM ----------

[estación seca]

How were you mixing your fertilizer when you had problems with your plants?

[1llum1na73d]

Originally Posted by estación seca

How were you mixing your fertilizer when you had problems with your plants?

I used to use .25 of a teaspoon of Miracle grow for orchids with 1 gallon of water, but now I use .25 in a gallon, and dilute it by adding half (already mixed batch) into another gallon jug, and topping both gallon jugs off with fresh water.

I took a leap this morning and fertilized an old Phal, with dry roots.

[estación seca]

0.25 teaspoon in a gallon of water (1.25ml of powder in 3.78l) is very dilute, and not enough to harm orchid roots. There was something else going on with your plants.

MiracleGro makes several different orchid fertilizers with differing amounts of nutrients. There are 3 numbers on the label, like this: 20-20-20, representing nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

There is a fertilizer calculator on the First Rays Web site, which is the business owned by OB member Ray. He also has a lot to read about fertilizing. Look in the menu for Free Information.

[1llum1na73d]

@estación seca , Thanx for the fertilizer info, I will definitely look into it. As for the water, we have a well fed by the aquifers. Very low in sulphur (in this region), plenty of Calcium from the limestone. Basically spring water, i'm literally surrounded by natural springs here.