My guess is that the bulbs will have shoots and then dry up; the shoots,
if properly maintained, will have roots; the shoots, if properly
maintained, will have flowers; the shoots will eventually turned into
bulbs; and the cycle repeats itself. My guess is the roots will die when
the bulb dries up.

I have my fair share of killing the orchids by drowning them. Now I am
worrying that I may kill them by dehydration.

I have a bunch of oncidiums and zygos that are now just bulbs. I took
them out of the pots since they were just rotting. My understanding of
orchids is very limited. Q1: If I just leave them out of the pots and
water them daily, will they survive? They won’t drown for sure out of
the pots.

Q2: I notice most bulbs have shoots coming out. I suppose they don’t
need water at this stage? Q3: Once the shoots grow bigger, the roots
will start to come out. Do I start to water them then? Q4: Is it fair to
say that roots won’t die unless something is wrong or until the bulbs
are drying up from old age? Q5: If I just leave the plants without pots,
will it be too much if I water them every day? I have a fan running all
day and a cool mister running during the day keeping the humidity above 50%.

I don’t have a green house. All I have is a southwest-facing window.

Thank you for the reply.

I usually watered them when I "felt" they were dry. I heard the rule is
to water them once a week, but I was afraid they might die before then,
so I watered them. I suppose they would have done fine even without
water for a full week.

The Oncidium initally came from the grower, so the medium was obviously
fine. They were grown in Hawaii with plenty of humidity. When they came
to Austin, since it's so dry and hot where I left them (in a shade
house), I used a sprinkler and watered them every day. I took them out
of their pot and placed them in coconut husk made baskets.

I saw a dendrobium in Ft. Lauderdale in July that was out open tied to a
tree (not in the shade) at a hotel. The management told me it had been
there for over a year and bloomed again there. I imagine the Florida sun
would have been too hot for that plant, but it managed to survive that.
My question is, without a potting medium, would an oncidium (and zygo
for that matter) survive a week without water? I noticed some roots that
were in the air got killed (had brown tips) after I watered them. I was
using tap water. Would that be the reason the roots died? Or, could it
be the fertilizer that killed them? I have started using distill water,
but haven't seen the results of it yet.

I also have phals, paths, and phrags; but they are a lot easier to take
care of. The Miltonia has new roots coming out. I am walking on thin ice
not knowing what I did right and am just trying to keep the roots growing.

Ray wrote:

Sounds like you're killing the plants before they have a chance to mature
fully. Old pseudobulbs are intended to stay around long after the leaves
that grow on them are gone, acting as food and water storage for the colony
of plants, and as they're still green, will add to the photosynthesis as
well.

In an oncidium, those old bulbs can hang around for years before they are
sucked dry, turn brown and papery. Zygos, in my experience, don't hang onto
the bulbs quite as long, but it's certainly not the direct sequence you
suggest.

If you're drowning your plants to death as you state, either you're
overwatering or using a growing medium poorly suited for your growing
conditions and plants. Can you provide more detail about the growing medium
you're using, how often you water, or other info that might help us be
better guides?

fotografer wrote in message ...
My guess is that the bulbs will have shoots and then dry up; the shoots,
if properly maintained, will have roots; the shoots, if properly
maintained, will have flowers; the shoots will eventually turned into
bulbs; and the cycle repeats itself. My guess is the roots will die when
the bulb dries up.

That is true only of some deciduous terrestrial orchids that survive
dry weather as dormant tuberoids. You do not have those orchids.

The problem with your reasoning is that your Oncidiums and
Zygopetalums do not have bulbs. They have pseudobulbs, which are
water- and nutrient-storing stems growing from a rhizome. The
pseudobulbs should survive for many years, as should the roots. You
_can_ grow orchids without pots and water every day, but on a
windowsill, it is probably not recommended. If you do unpot the
plants, they should be mounted on a piece of bark or treefern so that
the roots can attach. Just leaving the plant loose will result in new
growths at odd angles and broken roots.

I would recommend purchasing an introductory book on growing orchids.
For the cost of a single orchid, you can learn to grow all of your
orchids more successfully. I really like "Orchids Simplified" by
Henry Jaworski, but your local Borders or Barnes & Noble should have
other titles as well.

Regards,

Nick

There are several good beginner's books. One is "All About Orchids" by
Ortho. It can be found at the library, book store, or Amazon.com at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...776635-5219918.

I recently visited the AOS and purchased Taylor's Guides "Orchids"
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books).
This book has a great review of orchids in general and specifics about
several species (watering, light, temperature requirements). It has many
pictures, too.

Larry


"Myrmecodia" wrote in message
om...
fotografer wrote in message
...
My guess is that the bulbs will have shoots and then dry up; the shoots,
if properly maintained, will have roots; the shoots, if properly
maintained, will have flowers; the shoots will eventually turned into
bulbs; and the cycle repeats itself. My guess is the roots will die when
the bulb dries up.

That is true only of some deciduous terrestrial orchids that survive
dry weather as dormant tuberoids. You do not have those orchids.

The problem with your reasoning is that your Oncidiums and
Zygopetalums do not have bulbs. They have pseudobulbs, which are
water- and nutrient-storing stems growing from a rhizome. The
pseudobulbs should survive for many years, as should the roots. You
_can_ grow orchids without pots and water every day, but on a
windowsill, it is probably not recommended. If you do unpot the
plants, they should be mounted on a piece of bark or treefern so that
the roots can attach. Just leaving the plant loose will result in new
growths at odd angles and broken roots.

I would recommend purchasing an introductory book on growing orchids.
For the cost of a single orchid, you can learn to grow all of your
orchids more successfully. I really like "Orchids Simplified" by
Henry Jaworski, but your local Borders or Barnes & Noble should have
other titles as well.

Regards,

Nick

Hi there,
I have oncidiums growing out on rocks in bright light and they rarely get
watered. They only really get the mist from the garden next door or if it
rains but if they are looking a bit sad i do spray them with a water spray
bottle. I live in Brisbane, Australia so it is rather warm all the time and
we do get a mixture of dry days and humid days.
If the bulbs are starting to shrivel you definately need to up how much you
water them particularly if it is the new growths that are suffering.

I dont know much about zygo's so hopefully someone else can help you.

Goodluck
Krystal

"fotografer" wrote in message
...
Thank you for the reply.

I usually watered them when I "felt" they were dry. I heard the rule is to
water them once a week, but I was afraid they might die before then, so I
watered them. I suppose they would have done fine even without water for a
full week.

The Oncidium initally came from the grower, so the medium was obviously
fine. They were grown in Hawaii with plenty of humidity. When they came to
Austin, since it's so dry and hot where I left them (in a shade house), I
used a sprinkler and watered them every day. I took them out of their pot
and placed them in coconut husk made baskets.

I saw a dendrobium in Ft. Lauderdale in July that was out open tied to a
tree (not in the shade) at a hotel. The management told me it had been
there for over a year and bloomed again there. I imagine the Florida sun
would have been too hot for that plant, but it managed to survive that. My
question is, without a potting medium, would an oncidium (and zygo for
that matter) survive a week without water? I noticed some roots that were
in the air got killed (had brown tips) after I watered them. I was using
tap water. Would that be the reason the roots died? Or, could it be the
fertilizer that killed them? I have started using distill water, but
haven't seen the results of it yet.

I also have phals, paths, and phrags; but they are a lot easier to take
care of. The Miltonia has new roots coming out. I am walking on thin ice
not knowing what I did right and am just trying to keep the roots growing.

Ray wrote:

Sounds like you're killing the plants before they have a chance to mature
fully. Old pseudobulbs are intended to stay around long after the leaves
that grow on them are gone, acting as food and water storage for the
colony of plants, and as they're still green, will add to the
photosynthesis as well.

In an oncidium, those old bulbs can hang around for years before they are
sucked dry, turn brown and papery. Zygos, in my experience, don't hang
onto the bulbs quite as long, but it's certainly not the direct sequence
you suggest.

If you're drowning your plants to death as you state, either you're
overwatering or using a growing medium poorly suited for your growing
conditions and plants. Can you provide more detail about the growing
medium you're using, how often you water, or other info that might help
us be better guides?

The pseudobulbs ["bulbs"] should make new growths ["shoots"]. They will
eventually "dry up," but this should not happen for _several_ years. You
should have 3-4 "backbulbs" behind every new growth for Catts and Dens, and
1-2 for Oncids. The Zygos, I can't help you with. If you are separating
the new growths without backbulbs, you are setting yourself up for failure.

"fotografer" wrote in message
...
My guess is that the bulbs will have shoots and then dry up; the shoots,
if properly maintained, will have roots; the shoots, if properly
maintained, will have flowers; the shoots will eventually turned into
bulbs; and the cycle repeats itself. My guess is the roots will die when
the bulb dries up.

If they are just sitting on the bench bareroot [NO medium] then you can
probably water every day without over-watering. Every other day would
probably be enough, though.

Q5: If I just leave the plants without pots,
will it be too much if I water them every day? I have a fan running all
day and a cool mister running during the day keeping the humidity above
50%.
I have a bunch of oncidiums and zygos that are now just bulbs. I took
them out of the pots since they were just rotting. My understanding of
orchids is very limited. Q1: If I just leave them out of the pots and
water them daily, will they survive? They won’t drown for sure out of
the pots.

You should water these. Even if they aren't throwing new roots yet, they
should have some old ones???

Q2: I notice most bulbs have shoots coming out. I suppose they don’t
need water at this stage? Q3: Once the shoots grow bigger, the roots
will start to come out. Do I start to water them then?

Um, well, mostly ... but there are insects [usually thrips] that feed on
roots, also diseases [usually fusarium] that can affect them. Where did you
get these poor things, anyway?
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com

Q4: Is it fair to
say that roots won’t die unless something is wrong or until the bulbs
are drying up from old age?
I don’t have a green house. All I have is a southwest-facing window.

I now have most of my oncidium out of the pots and they are happy.
However, I can't go anywhere now. The miltonias have new growth and
roots are coming out. I don't know whether the roots are growing because
of the warm weather or because I am doing something right. I have not
taken the miltonias out of the pots.

I bought about 24 oncidiums from Hawaii after my visit to the nurseries
last May. I managed to kill one miltonia since then. All my orchids were
doing 'fine' in the shade house and bloomed all the way until January
when I took them back out on night too early. I also left them out in
the cold (mostly above freezing, except one night) since my friend told
me they could take it. It was a mistake.

One of my zygos is blooming. See http://wupatrick.com/OF05031715.jpg

I might have put the zygos in too tight of a media. I basically put the
lava rocks in a blender and grounded them and then pour the mix into the
pots. They are terrestrial, but I think I might have overdone it.

Kenni Judd wrote:

Q2: I notice most bulbs have shoots coming out. I suppose they don’t
need water at this stage? Q3: Once the shoots grow bigger, the roots
will start to come out. Do I start to water them then?


Um, well, mostly ... but there are insects [usually thrips] that feed on
roots, also diseases [usually fusarium] that can affect them. Where did you
get these poor things, anyway?

A few comments:

Zygopetalums are NOT terrestrial, they are epiphytes like most other
orchids.

All plants require some degree of air flow throughout the medium to
facilitate gas exchange. Orchids are particularly demanding of it. A major
key to orchid growing is finding the balance FOR YOUR CONDITIONS between
providing sufficient water and nutrition and keeping the air flow adequate.

The URL to your photo (nice!) requires the "www"

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"wu" wrote in message
...
I now have most of my oncidium out of the pots and they are happy. However,
I can't go anywhere now. The miltonias have new growth and roots are coming
out. I don't know whether the roots are growing because of the warm weather
or because I am doing something right. I have not taken the miltonias out
of the pots.

I bought about 24 oncidiums from Hawaii after my visit to the nurseries
last May. I managed to kill one miltonia since then. All my orchids were
doing 'fine' in the shade house and bloomed all the way until January when
I took them back out on night too early. I also left them out in the cold
(mostly above freezing, except one night) since my friend told me they
could take it. It was a mistake.

One of my zygos is blooming. See http://wupatrick.com/OF05031715.jpg

I might have put the zygos in too tight of a media. I basically put the
lava rocks in a blender and grounded them and then pour the mix into the
pots. They are terrestrial, but I think I might have overdone it.

Kenni Judd wrote:

Q2: I notice most bulbs have shoots coming out. I suppose they don’t
need water at this stage? Q3: Once the shoots grow bigger, the roots
will start to come out. Do I start to water them then?


Um, well, mostly ... but there are insects [usually thrips] that feed on
roots, also diseases [usually fusarium] that can affect them. Where did
you
get these poor things, anyway?

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 10:03:07 -0500, Rob Halgren
wrote:

wu wrote:
I might have got mine confused. A few sites out there said most Zygos
are terrestrials. See

http://www.orchidlady.com/orchidgarden/2001-10/
http://www.beautifulorchids.com/orch...gopetalum.html

http://www.adelaideorchids.com/index...alum_notes.htm

If mine is not terrestrial, I will need to get it repotted soon.


There are plenty of terrestrial orchids out there... But I don't think
zygos are one of them. They may be humus epiphytes - living in the top
layer of leaf litter and debris on the forest floor. That is pretty
easy to confuse with dirt growing. I've never seen them in their
habitat. Just based on the way the roots look, I would say they would
do better in an epiphyte mix than potting soil. But they do great in a
peat based mix like Promix-HP or the new coco-coir based Scotts
Metro-mix. They look a lot like dirt.

Rob

Our Zygo likes it in a deep pot like a nursery's tree pot with an
open drain bottom. We pack it in with just a touch of sphagnum
and hang it high in the gh. It gets watered often and the roots
grow straight down as a solid mass. When we repot at year end it
is without any moss and just a solid mass of white roots. They
look like the roots that come out of S/H.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

I suppose zygo is one of the most adaptable orchids. After I took two of
the zygos out of their grounded lava rock media and shacked the medium
loose, only to find that the roots were actively growing inside and the
orchids were happy; but it was too late.

Xi Wang wrote:

I have a Zygo in sphagnum, and it seems to be doing just dandy.

Cheers,
Xi

Rob Halgren wrote:

wu wrote:

I might have got mine confused. A few sites out there said most Zygos
are terrestrials. See

http://www.orchidlady.com/orchidgarden/2001-10/
http://www.beautifulorchids.com/orch...gopetalum.html

http://www.adelaideorchids.com/index...alum_notes.htm

If mine is not terrestrial, I will need to get it repotted soon.


There are plenty of terrestrial orchids out there... But I don't think
zygos are one of them. They may be humus epiphytes - living in the
top layer of leaf litter and debris on the forest floor. That is
pretty easy to confuse with dirt growing. I've never seen them in
their habitat. Just based on the way the roots look, I would say they
would do better in an epiphyte mix than potting soil. But they do
great in a peat based mix like Promix-HP or the new coco-coir based
Scotts Metro-mix. They look a lot like dirt.

Rob