Tolumnia care

[Danie]

I have these two little Tolumnia and I am not sure how to care for them properly.
How much light do they need?
How much moisture do they need?
What temperature do they need; cool or warm?
Your help would be appreciated.

[Dollythehun]

Hey, Danie! Tolumnias like me but, I don't live in France so filter what I tell you.

I grow mine in small bark in clay pots. A mature plant would be in a 4" pot. They like to be watered, dry out immediately, and then watered again. So, I water thoroughly every other day. I feed when I think of it.
They grow in a east/south window so, its pretty bright but, not bright enough to bloom catts. You will know they are at their light threshold when they start blushing red. My sunroom is intermediate temperature. it never goes below 65f and never above 80f.

I use clay because it dries out quickly. I could mount them but, personally do not have time to fuss with that. I'll post a thread someone sent me but, later because its on my phone.

Hope this helps.

[estación seca]

You can also hang them, bare-root, on string or nylon fishing line. In this case you would need to dip them in water every day.

If you are in the north of France they can have as much sun as you can give them. If you live in the south they could have as much sun as possible in winter, and a little shade in summer.

[Dollythehun]

These are the notes someone sent me. Maybe ES:
Tolumnia care
Tolumnia or Equitant Oncidiums are compact growers where leaves seldom exceed 6 inches long and two factors I discovered in growing this: good air circulation and never over water it. This miniature usually potted in a 3" to 4" pot that is enough size to make a specimen plant. This mini makes it very desirable for those who have limited growing space and perfect for east facing windows or shaded south facing windows. Flowers usually bloom from fall to spring but can also bloom year-round. Another interesting fact: the flowers look like "Dancing Ladies," this is because the lip of the flowers resembles skirts. This plant is at least 2-3 years old and very well established. Given to me as a gift by ‘Zoroaster’ a member of this board, yet I also found this orchid plant sold by Kawamoto Orchids and somebody named Kaina posted the exact flower on Google. These tiny ‘Dancing Lady’ orchids are endemic to the Caribbean and surrounding areas, including the Bahamas, Cuba, Florida, and Puerto Rico. Formerly known as ‘Equitant’ Oncidiums this informal growing group loves warm balmy weather and bright shaded light. These orchids have no pseudobulb to store water, so I give it a liberal watering then I let it dry out overnight. There is a rule of thumb= “if in doubt, don’t water” that applies to this orchid. I read some advice from a fellow member not to cut off the spike after the first blooms fade. There is often a secondary spike waiting to form and branch out to provide several more weeks of bloom. I feed this weekly weakly K-lite fertilizer and seaweed mix but since it is winter I stopped fertilizer until spring or when new growths appear.

Oncidiums and their hybrids, and Tolumnias have very different care requirements. Oncidiums like to stay moist. Tolumnias don't. Tolumnias like much more light than most Oncidiums.

__________________

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

These are the notes someone sent me. Maybe ES:
Tolumnia care
Tolumnia or Equitant Oncidiums are compact growers where leaves seldom exceed 6 inches long and two factors I discovered in growing this: good air circulation and never over water it. This miniature usually potted in a 3" to 4" pot that is enough size to make a specimen plant. This mini makes it very desirable for those who have limited growing space and perfect for east facing windows or shaded south facing windows. Flowers usually bloom from fall to spring but can also bloom year-round. Another interesting fact: the flowers look like "Dancing Ladies," this is because the lip of the flowers resembles skirts. This plant is at least 2-3 years old and very well established. Given to me as a gift by ‘Zoroaster’ a member of this board, yet I also found this orchid plant sold by Kawamoto Orchids and somebody named Kaina posted the exact flower on Google. These tiny ‘Dancing Lady’ orchids are endemic to the Caribbean and surrounding areas, including the Bahamas, Cuba, Florida, and Puerto Rico. Formerly known as ‘Equitant’ Oncidiums this informal growing group loves warm balmy weather and bright shaded light. These orchids have no pseudobulb to store water, so I give it a liberal watering then I let it dry out overnight. There is a rule of thumb= “if in doubt, don’t water” that applies to this orchid. I read some advice from a fellow member not to cut off the spike after the first blooms fade. There is often a secondary spike waiting to form and branch out to provide several more weeks of bloom. I feed this weekly weakly K-lite fertilizer and seaweed mix but since it is winter I stopped fertilizer until spring or when new growths appear.

Oncidiums and their hybrids, and Tolumnias have very different care requirements. Oncidiums like to stay moist. Tolumnias don't. Tolumnias like much more light than most Oncidiums.

__________________

Good information, but not mine.

[Dollythehun]

I apologize for citing you incorrectly. And I apologize to the OB member for whose work I have not given proper credit.

[Danie]

Thank you Dollythehun, the note is very helpful.
I don't think I watered them enough but there are a few new growths so they must be doing OK. I'll keep an eye on them daily. They are on a south facing windowsill.
Looking forward to see them bloom.
Thanks again and have a great day.

---------- Post added at 02:42 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:39 PM ----------

Thank you estación seca.
I appreciate your feed back. At this time they are on a south facing window sill and new growths are showing up. So they must be doing OK.
Have a great day.

[early]

Originally Posted by Dollythehun

These are the notes someone sent me. Maybe ES:
Tolumnia care
Tolumnia or Equitant Oncidiums are compact growers where leaves seldom exceed 6 inches long and two factors I discovered in growing this: good air circulation and never over water it. ….

Formerly known as ‘Equitant’ Oncidiums this informal growing group loves warm balmy weather and bright shaded light. These orchids have no pseudobulb to store water, so I give it a liberal watering then I let it dry out overnight. There is a rule of thumb= “if in doubt, don’t water” that applies to this orchid. I read some advice from a fellow member not to cut off the spike after the first blooms fade. There is often a secondary spike waiting to form and branch out to provide several more weeks of bloom. I feed this weekly weakly K-lite fertilizer and seaweed mix but since it is winter I stopped fertilizer until spring or when new growths appear.

Oncidiums and their hybrids, and Tolumnias have very different care requirements. Oncidiums like to stay moist. Tolumnias don't. Tolumnias like much more light than most Oncidiums.

__________________

I have this new lemon yellow skirt and the rest is wine colored/mottled. It is in a 2.25 inch square pot in either charcoal or ? It is very small with a wonderful stalk and 9 blooms. it looks exactly like a tolumnia except it has pseudo bulbs (3) that look more like the oncidium I have seen photos of here. Now I am confused as to what I have. I will try to figure out how to post the photos tomorrow or the next day. Thank you all for your patience at my over enthusium over this new orchid.

[Dollythehun]

There are several small Oncidiums. It could be a baby, or a smaller variety. You can also take a picture with your phone and Google the image until you can figure out how to post a picture.

[neophyte]

It is probably an Oncidium. There are many Oncidiums with Tolumnia-like flowers, but the distinguishing feature of Tolumnias is a lack of pseudobulbs.

You can post a picture by
1) clicking "go advanced"
2) scrolling down to "additional options"
3) clicking "manage attachments"
4) clicking "choose file" and selecting a file
5) clicking "upload"

This should work since you have more than 5 posts (which I think is the minimum number of posts needed in order to upload an image). If you've already followed these steps before, try using another browser.