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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Oncidium NOID: the rescue

Luscious foliage

     I picked up this orchid along with a masdevallia from the local botanical garden in August.  The plants were marked down due to being sold out of bloom, and while they both had beautiful leaves, their root systems were in critical condition.  The masdevallia died within a few weeks of purchase, but this oncidium NOID has become a study in how far an orchid can go into neglect and still survive.

pseudobulbs should never be this flattened


     What I hadn't realized at the time of purchase, was that this plant did not have a single living root, and its pseudobulbs were dehydrated to the point of being as flat as the leaves.  This damage was likely caused by poor watering technique.  In the last few months, the newest growth on the plant rotted off because the orchid could not support it.  Meanwhile, it has put out several new roots, and is now setting out a small new growth as well.

a new growth poking through

     Hopefully between this oncidium and my other onc noid I will eventually own a healthy plant to enjoy the genus' canonical round pseudobulbs and easy regular blooms.

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