What should i do with Oncidiums repot or not. 6 of them
 

Few months back i got 6 oncidiums from trader joes. They come in Spagnum Irepoted them in to bark / clay-pebbles with some spagnum on top. well the bulbs got wrinkly. I do usual watering check with the pencil.5-7 days or so. took them out and the roots where mushy. So i cut them off. I have them in rehab they are slowly recovering.Now i got 6 more from trader joes Only store i can get them from in my area. same thing they are tight tight packed in 4 inch pots with spagnum. what should i do. ?? try to remove them and pot them in to a different media or keep them in spagnum. Im not a huge lover of spagnum. but also if I try te remove the spagnum the roots are so small i my break them off the moss is so tightly packed in pot. they are in bloom now. Please help me. I have bark, clay pebbles small bark chunky bark and spagnum also have superthrive. KLN. fish fertilizer and bloom and nitrogen fertilizers.

For the ones that are recovering, I assume new roots have started? It may be best to make no additional changes for now.

For the new ones in moss, maybe leave them in moss for now. Use a wood or bamboo barbecue skewer to monitor moisture, let them get nearly dry, but not totally dry, before you water. If you plant to change them to bark, maybe do that after the weather becomes mild, spring/summer, especially if you plan to have them outdoors during the summer?

I think it will depend on your humidity, too. If it's low, you may not be able to give them enough water in bark. I have some that came in bloom in sphagnum. If I don't keep them soggy wet, the new growth wrinkles. I'm growing them like bog plants. Who would have thought that? The roots are great, by the way.

I'm a great one for repotting straight away. I bought two oncidium alliance, one had a yellow flower, the other yellow with black specks. The pure yellow one literally had no roots. They fell off as I took it out. The other had OK roots. They both went into fine bark, no moss. I had to use three rocks to keep the rootless one upright.

Neithe had any special treatment. The rootless one is now doing better than the rooted one.

I don't like leaving them in the medium I get them in, as all too often the trader's choice of medium can hold a nasty surprise.

Thank you guys for the ideas. Yes the ones that are recovering where rootless. I used super-thrive and got new roots in a week got them in cups on the bottom clay pebbles with 1/2 inch water and small bark chips 2 inches on top of the leca . and they are rooting. The new ones took me 1 hour each to remove the spagnum OMG. Got them planted in bark. we shall see.

Oncidium do best in fine barks, water it when it's near dry, I've grew mine in medium size bark with an inch top sphagnum. I live in Socal, humidity is low, i have a humidity tray, water about every 3 to 5 days.

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Do humidity trays work ? i have a vicks humidifier on but its 500 sqf living room. and i have them in 3 spots (all my orchids). if i put water in a decorative dish will that work ? or it has to be humidity tray? I did re pot them in fine bark no spagnum.
It took me 6 hours to clean 6 oncidiums from spagnum O dear . i was careful so I don't damage the root system.

Humidity trays don't work at all, except to keep water from the pots off your furniture. Do the math - calculate how much water evaporates in a day, and figure out how that will affect the humidity in a room with substantial air exchange.

If your room is completely air-tight, the humidity will go up slowly, and reach a fairly high level in several days. But human habitation rooms are not air-tight.

Another way to show they don't work at all is to keep a hygrometer in the room before and after installing the humidity trays. You will find humidity trays don't raise humidity in a room at all.

estación seca Thank you. that makes sense. Humidifyer got it on max 1 gallon 18/20 h

Nice roots on that one, they look really nice. I have 2 humidifiers running 24/7 I am putting over 2 gallons into the air every day.