Is Howeara Onc. Fly? Need potting info
 

Hi! I think Howeara is in this family. If so, can you tell me about potting media for it? Also, large or small pot?
Thanks you

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Orchid names have a genus name, first, capitalized. Then there is a species name, or the name of the hybrid. A naturally-occuring species name is always lower case. If the species name is capitalized it is a hybrid.

Oncidium is a large genus of many orchid species. It has a large number of related genera, most of which can hybridize with each other. "Oncidium hybrids" or "Oncidium intergenerics" are names used colloquially for hybrids among genera related to Oncidium. The standard abbreviation for genus Oncidium is Onc.

Howeara (abbreviation Hwra.) is a nothogenus name, meaning a made-up genus for intergeneric Oncidium hybrids with ancestors in genera Leochilus, Oncidium and Rodriguezia.

So I'm not sure what orchid you are mentioning. When writing a plant one would use either Howeara or Oncidium for the genus. Do you know whether you have Howeara Fly or Oncidium Fly? I tried searching on both but couldn't find anything.

People grow Oncidiums in all kinds of potting material. Different people do best with different media, depending on their growing conditions, and how much time they have to care for their plants. The important things for Oncidiums are plenty of air at the roots, and roots that don't dry out completely.

Many people use any of: Fine to medium orchid bark; long-fiber sphagnum moss; LECA clay pellets. The semi-hydroponic growing method works very well for them.

I'm not familiar with this hybrid, so I don't know how large it gets. Generally when repotting, pick a pot that will allow 2-3 year's worth of growth.

if you are talking about Hwra. Lave burst ‘puanani’
i grow it wet in SH and it is always in flower

First, Welcome!

I'm going to move this to the Oncidium forum where it will get more attention.

Howeara Lava Burst 'Puanami'
 

If this is the plant you are asking about. It's quite hard to kill and it just exists to flower. An excellent (if small flowered non-fragrant) first time orchid.
It seems to adapt well whether grown moist or as dry as a cactus (from my experience), it can take a fairly wide range of temperatures, and while it's reported to flower twice a year, it basically can flower almost perpetually, since it typically (for me) sends up a spike, then just before the first is winding down, it sends up another, and if you're lucky a third spike. Then it might possibly rest a bit and grow a new lead, then start throwing spikes again.

I heartily recommend it..the only thing you could do to kill it is probably water it too much.

This is a great contradictory demonstration of why advice can be so dicey - it depends much more about the combination of all of your cultural conditions than the plant itself, so without knowing that, how do you know which is better for you?

Every Howeara I’ve ever grown was a small plant with very thin roots, and in my conditions (warm, moist greenhouse), they did better mounted with daily waterings.

i laughed when i read the above advice in combination with mine too.


that's why I have a disclaimer LOL

i sent a small chunk to Roberta who i think was going to keep it in her GH...i wonder if it did not make it?


i had another large division that i kept mounted as well but i could not water it enough (it was in my lath house) and it did not thrive.

Actually, it's doing fine... Thanks! Hasn't bloomed yet. Still quite little. (Things grow faster in FL...) It'll get there. Baby pictures when it does.

[QUOTE=DirtyCoconuts;957487]i laughed when i read the above advice in combination with mine too.

Years ago, when I was first starting on orchids other than phals, I grew Lava Burst in an almost desert environment. It was permanently dwarfed at like 3-4 inches, but it *still* flowered for years even though the flowers were in scale miniatures of the already small flowers.

I currently have one growing in pure spagnum shipped to me in December, it's about 10 inches, approximately 3 times the size when I grew it like a cactus ;) The point being, it's quite adaptable and simply wants to flower *lol* despite how stupid it's owner was potting it in fine bark, watering every 2-3 weeks, and seldom fertilizing it. Still it lives, grows, and flowers.

Quite simply, this cross amazes me.