Brassia seedling - and Oncidium orchids generally
 

I think Oncidium alliance orchids are pretty much my favourite type of orchid.

There are a couple of reasons for this. Firstly they are so easy to grow (in this district, anyway). Outside or in a shadehouse, rarely ever a pest or disease, no real care beyond making sure they get water, sun, and optionally some fertiliser.

Secondly I love their diversity of flower form. Phals are nice but every phal looks like another phal - just the flower size and colours change - and only within a restricted palette. Ditto cattleyas (my other specialty).

I even like that with a small but diverse collection of oncid alliance orchids there is always something in flower. Spring flowering ones keep going right across summer until they merge with autumn flowering forms, and then it repeats with places reversed in winter.

This brassia is a good but not exceptional example. It’s a seedling cross between two well known forms. Cheap and cheerful, as I lack space I relegated it to one of the low-light spots and didn’t expect it to flower this year. The photo doesn’t do it justice - the labellum has a lovely crystalline texture on a crepey surface. The colours are much more pleasing then my limited photographic abilities suggest, too.

Each flower measures 340mm from the tip of the dorsal sepal to the furtherest petal-tip. Generally I’m not enthusiastic about the limited separation provided by green flowers against green leaves but size alone makes these flowers stand out.

Visitors always react to this flower shape because it exemplifies what orchids are to most people - decadent. By that I mean it has an extravagant and inexplicable elegance to its form. Most people have no idea why nature would produce these shapes and why they are so pleasing to humans. I give them the full story about parasitic tarantula-hunting wasps but it’s not a very satisfying explanation to most people and I can see them thinking surely there must be an easier way to get pollinated.

Anyone else specialise in the Oncidium alliance, or maybe just have a good collection ?

I get the feeling that among hard-core orchid growers the Oncidium alliance is maybe considered a poor-mans orchid, or maybe just a good beginners orchid. Have people found that to be the case?

Cheers
Arron

Congratulations on doing well with this group. An "easy orchid" is one that thrives under the conditions that one has. And clearly these are doing great for you. (I have a few in this group that grow effortlessly for me, a bunch of other that didn't.. that I mostly no longer have) So for other folks, not necessarily so easy. Keep doing what you're doing, it works!

I think the key to success with the group - at least the complex hybrids - is to look at the climatic composition of the parent species.

Most of them start with oncidium as a base. If they add a strong component of odontoglossum (formerly called), cochloidea or Miltonopsis then avoid these plants if your limiting climatic factor is hot summers.

If your limiting factor is cold winters then avoid the ones with Brassia or the more esoteric genera.

I‘m just talking in broad terms here, I know the reality is a bit different.

Most hybrids are in one camp or the other, and you can usually tell the composition by looking at the non-flowering plant - unlike, say, cattleya hybrids wherein you cannot discern much about their composition by looking at the non-flowering plant. The good thing about the Oncidium alliance is that it is diverse in each climate type, so by understanding your climate (indoor or outdoor) and matching a range of species and hybrids to it, then there is a broad range of plants suitable to every environment. There is nothing particularly magical about my climate (wrt Oncidiums) success comes from matching. If I make a mistake, and bring home something that doesn’t prosper, then I have a green bin waiting for it and no hesitation in throwing it in.

2 years ago, someone gave me a division of Brassia Rex (backbulbs with 3 new growths, established, in plastic pot with bark mix).

In my greenhouse, and with my watering schedule = twice weekly March-mid November, weekly in winrter, it only regressed for the next year. Then I switched it to a spaghnum/bark mix, and it is now growing as it should.

Likewise, 2 years ago I kept an intergeneric oncid, which came in with poor roots from my supplier. I repotted it into spaghnum/bark mix to encourage root growth. It promptly set 2 new growths, each of which grew 40% larger than the original 'mature' growth.

The 2nd year, the new growths grew 40% larger again. It is currently in bloom with 5 spikes (see posting under Oncda. Pacific Pagan).

I love the Oncidium Alliance! I have quite a few and was lucky enough to be gifted some others due to them not doing well for the original grower. I love the Odontoglossum type too.
I live in a coastal town south of Adelaide, Im 1 klm from the sea and seem to have a micro climate that is in complete contrast to Adelaide on the plains where temps can get up to high 30sC regularly and even higher and can last for a week at a time . Here we are mid 20sC with only an occasional jump into higher temps and then only for a day or two maximum.
Ive installed a micro misting system to help on those days.
So Im aiming to try a few Odontoglossum too.