Oncidium (?) struggling
 

Hello all,
I'm looking for advice for an orchid I'm unfamiliar with, I think it's an oncidium.
It's in a community greenhouse, has survived but never looks healthy and has never bloomed.
I checked on it today and it fell out of the pot with poor roots, I think someone might have potted it into regular potting mix.
Any recommendation for
pot/potting mix/light/water/fertilizer, well pretty much everything. Please!
I'd like to get it healthy and blooming!
Thanks...

Yes, an Oncidium, probably a hybrid. The old roots don't look too bad but new roots only come from the newest growths.

Pot up in almost any traditional orchid medium but remember they like to stay moist. You can use medium to fine bark alone, or mixed with other things. You could use LECA.

The hybrids tend to make new growths throughout the year. Consider fertilizing more frequently and giving a little more light.

Thanks ES!
Any pot recommendations? I'm thinking smaller and shallower, especially if that's more or less normal root length. Are they OK to be a bit crowded?
It gets bright light in a warm greenhouse, but has been partly shaded by a monstera. I'll move it over to the sunny side of the bench.

Leave room all around for 2 more growths. Shallower or deeper depends on how often you have time to water. I would use a pot at least a couple of inches deeper than the current roots. When these get going they make a huge amount of roots.

Winter greenhouse sun where you live is OK but in summer it will be happier shaded by that Monstera.

When I’m rehabilitating dehydrated Oncidiums I put a few strands of sphagnum moss in the mix - not much so as not to impede air movement. Then I wind quite a bit more on the surface. Once it’s looking good I remove the surface strands. Works for me.

Can anyone tell me if you think those small black spots on a couple of the leaves are from dehydration? I was given an Angraecum sesquipedale that has some like that - I panicked about black rot when I first saw it, but they've never changed and no more are showing up. Now I'm wondering if it's dehydration or other damage, the plant is in pretty bad shape.

This is an old thread. It would be better if you started a new thread. More people would see it. Go to Forums and select a forum. You could post this question in the Beginner forum, the Pests and Diseases forum or the Angraecum forum.

Angraecums prefer high humidity, though they will grow in a typical home. High humidity orchids frequently develop small black spots in low humidity. It is not a big deal. Some Oncidium hybrids are known for having lots of spots no matter how you grow them.

Rots are very rare in a home environment unless temperatures are much too high or much too low. Fungi and bacteria generally are problems of high humidity environments. Even if infections occur, it is almost always because conditions are off. Healthy plants in a good environment seldom develop rots. If you see something that looks like an infection, your first thought should be of how to improve the growing conditions.