Thank you Steve for all your good advice!

I will soak the Burr tomorrow morning. I was quite relieved to see all those
healthy roots, though it makes me feel a bit silly that once again I have
overreacted and worried too much. It is very inconvenient that a plant that
has been overwatered shows many of the very same symptoms as a plant that
has been underwatered. I knew that I should check the weight of the pot, but
unfortunately I am not nearly good at that, though I am becoming better. I
learned orchid care with orchids in moss, and thus was used to just judging
by touching the surface. The pot weight method of judging an orchid's
watering needs is taking me way too long to get used to. Though I have quite
a few orchids in bark now, and have had some of them for one and a half
years already, I still do not trust my judgment on the relative weight of
the pot sufficiently.

Joanna

"Steve" wrote in message
...

Joanna,
That's good news about finding lots of healthy roots. If the bark was
really dry down inside the pot, even though you watered yesterday, I
think it needs a good soak. Either hold it under running water for a few
minutes of put the pot in a container of water for several minutes to
get it to keep some moisture. After the water drains away, think about
how heavy the pot feels. Next week or beyond, if it feels too light
after normal watering, you might want to soak it again.
Oncidiums, Odontoglossums, Miltonopsis, and their hybrids don't want to
get as dry between waterings as a Catt would. Water before things get
too dry. The wrinkled pseudobulbs should plump back up but it will take
some time. Probably weeks. You would probably be shocked to know how dry
the air is here. We got above zero outside today for the first time in 3
days. I see it is 3 below zero again now. I don't have a way to
accurately measure the humidity inside but I know it is way down there.
I do grow my plants in the basement where it is cooler and I have quite
a few plants grouped together. That helps just a little but I have never
used a humidifier at all. I have 5 Odontoglossums and a few Oncidiums
down there. If I can keep the 2 newest pseudobulbs fairly plump, I am
happy.
By the way, if your plant looses some leaves as it adjusts to your
conditions, don't loose any sleep over it. My Odontoglossums acquired a
rust like fungus last year that made them drop all the older leaves and
weakened the newer ones. (I found it to be curable with some fungicide
applications last summer.) One of them dropped every leaf and it was a
leafless collection of pseudobulbs for about 4 months. It is putting out
such a strong new growth that I wouldn't be surprised if it bloomed on
that growth. Not too long ago I posted pictures, on ABPO, of 2 of the
Odonts blooming, even though they had been down to a few leaves just
months before.

Steve




J Fortuna wrote:
Steve,
Thank you! I followed your advice and gently slipped the orchid out of
the
pot. It has a lot of healthy roots and no sign of root rot. I hope I
did
not disturb it too much by removing it from the pot and putting it back
in.
However, the bark medium felt very dry to me and the pseudobulbs are
still
wrinkled, even though I had watered it yesterday morning. It's in a 5
inch
plastic pot filled with a bark mix. It's under artificial lights, so
that it
gets about 1000-1500 foot candles from that and then during the day time
the
blinds are up but it's a shaded northern window, so not much more light
from
that. However, I have been fighting a loosing battle with humidity these
past few weeks, the humidifier I have is not strong enough, now that
it's
the middle of winter and we are heating the apartment with central heat.
When I glanced at the humidifier this evening to my horror I discovered
that
it was 24 percent humidity only. I will strive to buy a second
humidifier
this weekend, however, since the Burr Nelly Isler feels so dry, should I
water it again, even though it was watered yesterday? How often would
you
expect an Onc hybrid to be watered in these conditions? And yes, I know
that
the humidity will need to be corrected, so these conditions won't stay
the
same much longer. My Phals and Paphs don't seem to mind a bit though!
It's
just the cochleanthes and the Burr that do. Is the Burr Nelly Isler one
of
those orchids that need to be watered fairly frequently? My Phals an
Paphs
generally are watered either once a week or less often than that, my
small
SLC seems to require water about every 5 days, and I water the
cochleanthes
every 3 days (since I really don't understand it well, I just go by
calendar
in its case), where would the Burrgerea fit into the watering
requirement
scheme?
Thanks for your advice.
Joanna