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.

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

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?