Tolumnia Genting Orange
 

When my eyes caught this vibrant bright colored orchid, I knew I just got to have it.
These miniature ‘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 easy growing group loves warm balmy weather and bright shaded light.
I don’t let it get above 90F nor below 50F and I allow 10 degrees lower temps at night than the day temps….so these plants get to be placed early indoors after Labor day weekend and is on the far end of the south facing window.
These orchids have no pseudo bulb 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 was advised 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.


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Very nice. I have several in spike, but no blooms yet,

Thank You, Carrie !!!!

please post pictures when the buds open....

Nice!

Amazing combination of yellow and blood red, really stunning, it looks exactly like clown frogfish I saw many times when diving in Bali!!! They could be brothers & sister!

Thank You, Sonya !!!!

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Thank You, Tommy!

this also reminds me of the Spanish flag

Very nice! Beautifully shots, too. My collection is 70% Catts. My little Tolumnia henekenii got lost with all the big plants and failed. You've inspired me to try again, this time in pots. I think Hamlyn has Genting - Tamiami show coming up...

It is SO TINY AND CUTE!!!!!

Very pretty!

Thank You !!!!

windowsill grower like me are lucky to have these kinds of compact orchids....this is the seventh Tolumnia in my collection

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Thank You !!!!

and very easy to grow....you don't have to fuss over them

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Thanks for the visit and your kindness

Hey there,

How long have you been growing your Tolumnia 'Genting Orange'? I just got one of these orchids at a recent show about a month ago. It seems mine had taken quite a shock coming from the growers conditions, to my own. The leaves first started to dry so then I increased watering. Then I noticed that the roots have died back! I don't know why that happened and I dont want to lost this one, any help or suggestions? Should I repot this, and if so, what medium should be used? I should note, mine also came in one of those tiny pots. I was wondering if I could use something else to pot it into instead. Its fall/approaching winter here in NY so it gets very dry inside in terms of humidity. I usually water it and then let it dry, but I suppose the inside of the pot could have held more moisture than I anticipated.

I grow my Tolumnias mounted. The key to success is to water/mist daily and ensure that they are dry before nightfall. So good air movement is a must. Often when in pots, there is no media at all or a few pieces of charcoal.

When I mounted mine, the roots did appear to die back and were very dry. However the following spring, new roots appeared that are green and healthy.

Hope that helps.

Thank you very much for the quick reply!

Ok, yes I was thinking this orchid would be great for mounting so I will give that a try. If the roots are damaged and rotted can/should they be trimmed back before the mounting? If so, how far should they be trimmed?

Thanks for the help!
Much appreciated :)

I've had my Tollies for a couple of years....this plant is adjusting to your environment; just take into consideration that the former grower had humidity and heat to perfection and the automated showering mists have nourished it....
soak it for 5 minutes instead of watering it....then let it dry overnight....invest in an electric humidifier that has an oscillating fan attached=if not then make a humidity tray with a saucer of water and some pebbles=just don't let the water touch the roots....I know winter indoors in NY can be dry....
you need not repot it = maybe make it get used to its surroundings first before you disturb the tiny sensitive roots....

Ok great, I will do that, and make it's surroundings accommodate it more. When I bought this orchid, it was actually in mind to be used inside of my vertical vivarium, (the home for my dart frogs) where I have other plants, mosses, etc. all vertically landscaped with cork bark and other things. In there it would have access to plenty of moisture and high humidity because I have a mistking, automated misting system (which is one of the best misting systems out there) set up with a timer. The system is currently set to mist early in the morning for a few minutes.
I wanted to have this orchid mounted on one of the cork pieces in there, but not have it soaked by misting. that sound good?
Although, yes, an automated humidifier for my room would be great aswell because I generally would benefit from having one for me just because the air can be so intensly dry. I have one of those automated heaters just to keep my room warm because its getting very cold out here. Had our first real snow today :/ bummer, but that's NY for ya. Anyways, getting back to my question, so what is the length I should cut back the roots to? I've looked at them and they seem pretty bad at this point. I remember they were a little fuzzy with a bit of mold or mildew the other day but since I've restricted watering that has been quelled for the most part but it seems to have hurt my roots quite a bit. How far can they be cut back or how much should I remove if most of them are now pretty bad?

Very nice! I like the color.

Thank You, Jeff!!!!

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If you flush the roots in running water under the sink at full throttle; the dead decayed roots will come off by itself. The ones remaining attached to the plant will be the ones you keep. Spray the whole plant with physan20 before you mount it... that idea of automatic mist in the morning will be good if you make sure the roots are dry overnight=that fuzzy mold like stuff on the roots means it was not able to dry out....

Windowsill Equitants are great for Spring-Summer and Fall color. I have 2 working on buds.

Thank You for your input. These orchids started spiking last summer and it is giving me blooms up to now....they are so tiny it is dwarfed by my Catasetinae as a center on the dinner table.

Thanks you guys,

I appreciate the feedback greatly. My Tolumnia is doing much better now. Unfortunately I didn't get to treat it with Physan20 because I don't have any, nor do I know where to get it. Can this be bought at a local hydroponics supplier? or is this strictly an order online thing? Anyways, I did treat it with a solution of diluted Listerine and then a mixture of Hydrogen peroxide and the mold went right away after a few alternating applications and I haven't seen it since I've been letting it dry quite a bit. I removed it from the little pot and I mounted it on a small cork bark piece. It is doing a lot better I can tell already. It hasn't been long enough for it to put out new roots but I can see the nodes at which they will soon push out from and the sides also indicate future new growth, so that is good. Also, I have something great and unexpected to share with you! Prior to this slight wet rotting I had tried my technique at hand pollination. To my great surprise, yesterday, I noticed that the flower stem, the one I tried the technique on, had taken to fertilization and has started to produce a swollen stem, where a seed pod will eventually form! I'm so happy and surprised to see that this orchid will not only survive but also produce seed! Pretty Awesome little wonders. I would show a picture update on that but I haven't had the chance yet, soon though. Now I just have to get a technique down for eventually germinating the seeds/micropropagation. Anyone have ideas, experience, and or insights to share on that?

Very good! Show us pictures of your newly mounted plant.
You can search threads about flasking seed pods. There is also a topic on deflasking and compots.

This is very nice and as usual beautiful photography! I saw your post and was reminded of it when I saw the same plant being sold at the Three Rivers Orchid Show, November 2-3 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. That vendor had only two available, they were both in bloom. I have been reading up on these Tolumnia. I have noticed that there are all kinds of Tolumnia: Genting, varieta, etc. do you or any one else know the nomenclature of these plants? As an example, "Genting" is this a variety found native to Puerto Rico?

Yeah, that is a great question and I too have wondered where mine had originated (or at least its "parents" rather). It seems that most of the varieties kept by common enthusiasts, the ones more readily available today, are hybridized and cultivar plants. As far as I have researched and read in literature, it seems Tolumnias have quite the range of a geographical distribution (but places around or near the equator) and this makes it all-the-more hard for one to decypher, where exactly their hybrid has originated from. Locations within the literature note: The Caribbean islands and surrounding areas, the Bahamas, Cuba, Florida, and Puerto Rico. With this vast geographical range, it can prove difficult to trace back the genealogies, phylogenetics, etc. I was thinking though, it seems to me that, based off what I've read, Tolumnia variegata (an endemic orchid to the Carribeans), plus a few others, are likely candidate for primary species that has been used in breeding, crossing, and hybridizing with other Tolumnias from other locations--and so on and so fourth. Both the floral and growth characteristics seem to be suitable and suggest this to me. Thoughts anyone?

Thank You for that question.
species:
Tolumnia bahamensis=endemic to Bahamas
Tolumnia borinquensis=endemic to Puerto Rico
Tolumnia caymanensis=endemic to Cayman Islands
Tolumnia guianensis=endemic to Guyana
Tolumnia haitiensis=endemic to Haiti

These are the hybrids you meant:
*Tolumnia Jairak are hybrids from Thailand who produce flasks and mass produce their colorful orchids.
‘Genting’ are hybrids from Singapore.


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Thank You for your interest.
I hate to recommend the RHS site because for some infos you have to go to their pay site: but they are the only place that register and name orchids....you might find the people who registered most Tolumnia orchid hybrids and discover the various names....when they were hybridized and place of origin.

Tolumnia Genting Orange
 

Not only are you an amazing orchid grower, Bud, you are also a fount of much knowledge!!! LOL. Thank you very much for your information. This helps a lot. When I got my Tolumnia, I was confused by the vendor when she told me they imported the plant from Taiwan. When I started doing more research on the plant, information I found indicated the plant is endemic to the Caribbean. The RHS website provides a PDF file for registered plants over a calendar quarter, so I'll start looking there.

With regard to Tolumnia Genting Orange, which is what I have, all the Tolumnia Genting plants with this designation, for example, Hausermann's has a T. Genting Volcano, I now know that this is a hybrid from Singapore.

Thanks again Bud.

These are information I got from reading some of the threads of other members and I just pay attention....you too will accumulate a wealth of knowledge through the years that you are here.

Hey guys,

Just wanted to give you an update on my Tolumnia. Its doing much better now and seems to be very happy with it being mounted on the cork bark piece. Here is a photo of how the mount turned out. I used a small amount of Sphagnum and then some light terrarium Moss with it, attached with Stealth Spider Wire. Let me know what you think. Also, check out this awesome Seed pod my plant is now producing! :D

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that is a very neat mount....your plant is having new growths....that pod is a nice surprise....

Thanks Guys!!

I appreciate that greatly! Yeah, as I said, she took to the mount quite well and although I did trim some of the dead and dried up roots (because I'm sure they would have promoted future rot) I was very careful with them and also the placement and use of substrate. The plant now gets adequate conditions that it seems to enjoy and I keep it hung up where it can receive great lighting (near my T5 fixtures). There it also gets the dryer air to make sure the plant can dry out after watering. No rot apparent anymore, so I'm so happy I addressed this. New roots are beginning to poke out. Its surprising to me how well/ how much these guys love to be dried out between watering. Its quite awesome. Anyways, thanks so much guys for your input and help with it.

Now I just need to figure out a great technique for how I'm going to germinate/flask the seed pod once its ready!

You can do an OB search on flasking and compot in some of the thread of the senior members. There is also a certain member who volunteers to flask your pod for free, but that was quite some time ago and I don't know if the offer still stands.

Thank You !

That's really really pretty!

Thank You, Rosie !