Miltassia question
 

More yellowing leaves😓. Alright I got this little guy from larrys orchids on Wednesday. When it came it was bone dry and all wrinkly with just a tinge of yellow to the yellow leaf in the picture. I haven't had a chance to repot yet but it's on the to do list for the weekend. Here are some picshttp://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06...ec448bd048.jpg
The day it came in
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06...2b52662eab.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/06...734171dfdc.jpg
And this is today. It's still damp from the watering on Wednesday. But the pseudo bulbs are still wrinkly. Any advice


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The yellowing leaf, is showing 'accordioning', this plant has dehydrated before, once the leaves show this it is not reversible. It is likely that the pseudobulbs have dried out before and are showing wrinkles and will likely remain so. I don't think the yellowing leaf is of much concern, it's old and the plant has experienced a change in conditions. I keep my oncidiums wetter than most others - watering more frequently rather than giving them more volume per watering.

How do you tell when to water these guys I had read that you can use the bamboo skewers to tell the moisture level in them but how dry do you let it get


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't think they like to get too dry.

In the warmer months, you want to keep your Miltassia (Bratonia) bright and moist. If the mix is staying wet for multiple days though, it might be time to consider repotting. Just wait until the newest growth is sending out new roots and you should be fine.

I went ahead and repotted it. When I pulled it out it was just a lump of roots warped around a lump of what look to me to be floral foam in straight bark so it wasn't holding much moisture I couldn't get the foam extracted from the dead grip it had on it so I potted it with I but teased out the roots as best I could. I potted it in coconut husks pearlite and bark. Hope this will keep it a little happier. I could only see one or two actively growing roots the rest were brown but still firm.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You know, Larrys sent me a really messed up odontonia papageno me amour. It was in the exact condition as your miltassia. I think they just send out sick and bad orchids.

My orchid died eventually, and yours may as well. I have recovered quite a few oncidiums in pretty bad shape before, but this is on the edge of "too far gone." You should see if you can get a refund and buy from another vendor.

I thought my situation was just a fluke, but it looks like this is a pattern. They sent me one exactly like yours. Complain to them for sending you a sick/dying orchid, because this is not okay. Send them pictures from the day you got it!!

I could understand some slight wrinkles, maybe a few bad roots, and so on. However, if this is anything like the one I got, the roots will be entirely dead, and those pseudobulbs are unacceptably sickly. That someone would even think it was okay to send out an orchid in this shape to a customer kind of blows my mind.

That plant is not sick or dying. It is a young plant, that has been grown with too little water (and fertilizer) during the active growing seasons though.

Hawaiian nurseries grow these from flask (1st small bulb) to blooming size on 3rd bulb (occasionally 2nd bulb).

I do not know this specific clone, so I can't comment on bulb shape of this plant. Most plants in this group should have rounder/fatter bulbs though.

I agree with Fairorchids, the plant doesn't look sick or dying just a bit dehydrated. Some can bloom at this size but probably only if you have perfect conditions.

You guys can say what you like, but my orchid eventually died coming from Larrys orchids (now Aussable Botanicals).

Its pseudobulbs were ridiculously thin, wrinkled, all the roots were dead, and I am personally offended that they think that it's okay to send out a product like that.
Like, it's almost worse than what you would get from evelyns orchids on ebay - at least the orchids I got from her had the possibility of being recovered.

I got an orchid in this exact shape from Larrys Orchids, and now I see it's a pattern from them. And it's unacceptable. This is beyond "a bit dehydrated" - this is a plant in chronically bad shape and is bordering on unsalvageable. If they want to sell rescue plants, they should label them as such.

I wish luck to the OP, but I think she should ask for a replacement/refund.

I figured I would call Monday and talk to them to about this little orchid. The other two that I got from them were in good shape. So I hope that this is kinda of a fluke. What did they tell you Astrid when you confronted them about your odontonia?? Where the easy to deal or was it a problem?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Alright I contacted them today and basically he told me that the were back bulb clones and it is normal for them to drop the back bulb because of the stress of shipment. Does this sound reasonable?? It sounds about right to me but I'm a newbie and can be lead astray pretty easily. When questioned further he said that if more leaves yellow or the orchid doesn't start to bounce back fairly quickly to contact them again and they'll make it right with me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

During the summer months and my Oncidiums are in my growcamp outdoors, I try to water them as often as I can. In between, I also spray mist the leaves. Sometimes I even sit them in water for a day or two. My location is really bone dry so my orchids loves this treatment, particularly Oncidiums which seem to be real water hogs, hard to overwater for my location.

To me, your plant does not look dying yet, just acclimating to your location and to your watering regimen. I used to get those accordion leaves and wrinkly bulbs too, really frustrating, then later an accidentally leaving one oncidium standing in water for about 3 days showed me just how thirsty it was, so I learned to adjust my watering especially during summer months.

When I say it is hot here in my area, our temps hover in the 95F and higher range to triple digits with humidity at 25 - 35%, so that is really making it way too hot and dry for my orchids. I do not know what temps and humidity you have there. It really helps to have an indoor/outdoor sensor too to track your temps and humidity levels.

Well I was told that from a different vendor on ebay - these backbulbs can take a long time to recover, blahblah. It's true, and sometimes they do recover, but sometimes they are really too far gone.

What matters in this situation is that they are willing to make it right with you! That puts a big +1 for them in my book.

I never contacted Larrys about this issue, and that is because I was still new-ish, didn't think their was a real issue because "Hey! It bloomed!" and didn't realize that the plant was beyond help until months after I got it.

The ebay vendor I mentioned sold me a "mature division 3 psychopsis backbulbs" for $12, but the plant arrived shriveled half to death and with zero viable roots. It lost 2/3 bulbs and slowly poked a few roots out, but eventually I gave up on it. She shipped me a replacement with a few viable roots and not quite as shriveled, and that plant is now thriving for me.

Take this as a note of caution from the vendor. They seem to have a habit of selling a bad plant here and there BUT they will make it right with you.
That's okay, and you can do with that information what you will. For me, this would mean I would reserve expensive plant purchases for more reputable vendors, but might take a gamble with this vendor every now and then.

Eventually, you will develop a sense for which plants can recover and which will not make it if you keep up with the hobby.

We are pretty close to you in temps and humidity. I like that we run a swamp cooler because it raised the humidity in the house from 25% to 55%.I have thought about setting up a shady spot for these guys outside but I'm scared that they'll get to cold we are still cooling off to the low 50s to the high 40s. Heck I've seen snow here on the last day of June lol


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I agree with you astrid.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk