Fixing the Oncidium Orchids setup + Seramis water indicators

[@GerryDanen]

Did not notice outside noise. Liked the lesson!

[@thejoyfulorchid3295]

OH MY that cucumber orchid is just so cute!! Great clip as usual and thank you for ever bringing us new products and ideas Danny

[@anothertickintime5578]

Dannie, I use that brand and it is dusty, I generally wash/soak the bark in hot water and flush several times to get all the dust off. Its great bark that last a long time and I have not had any adverse affects from the bark dust and I have been using this brand for years.

[@darianroscoe1017]

Perfect timing for this video for me! Just noticed this morning that I'm still having trouble with my Oncidium drying out...and you gave me the answer! I changed my bark over to NZ spaghnum moss, and we'll see what happens. I use the same moss as you have, and that one package of moss makes a bundle!

[@Misslou2425]

Orchiata has some white looking sediments that are as a result of the addition of the lime ( am forgetting exactly what ) that they use to help the bark retain its pH stability. Should mention the particular addition on the bag....

[@VoaThiagao]

Hi, great vids, you convinced me to get back to the orchid growing hobby. In the example above I am not convinced with the use of bark instead of LECA to cover the moss. If all you want is to protect from light I would have used the non-organic media as it will not expire or saturate...

[@1171]

Your right on the lecca it’s better in bark and moss. My roots great I’m working with A Wild Frans jewels omg 😮 I’m not giving up but it’s trying for sure. I m going to do as you do I’m losing leaves ugh 😑 thank you Dani

[@MoreChannelNoise]

I have an oncidium that does better in leca than it's clone (they are both from the same mother) the difference is somehow some garden moss got in with the leca and spread through it, doesn't seem to harm the onicdium, the oposite. I was thinking of repotting the other. Take some leca, take some garden moss, cut up the garden moss with scissors into 1cm pieces, put both in a bowl and mix, then plant the oncidium in the mixed medium.

[@sippigrrrl]

I only use Orchiata bark, I do rinse it very thoroughly before I use it, despite the fact that the packaging states that there’s “no need to rinse, saving you time” and there’s ALWAYS a LOT of dark residue after rinsing it out, and if you use the smallest size of the Orchiata, use a sieve to strain it, because it almost like MUD until I rinse it out a couple of times. The good thing about rinsing it is that I can find those “rogue” pieces of strange wood that don’t look like the rest of the bark, but I love using the bark, all three sizes. I have some baby Oncidium Twinkles that I planted in the small Orchiata bark, and they’re doing great; in fact, one of them (with only two tiny pseudobulbs!) has sent up the smallest spike I’ve ever seen! I can’t wait to see if she blooms, or if she’s just over-excited to be a grownup. But regarding both products that you’re using in this video, they’re the only kind that I use, the sphagnum moss is the best that I’ve found, and same with the bark. I always rinsed my bark before I started to use Orchiata anyway, sometimes I’d soak it overnight, just to get some moisture into it, so really, I’m not doing anything differently with the Orchiata than I did with any other bark, only my results are far better, and the bark pieces are much more uniformly sized from bag to bag.

[@MissOrchidGirl]

Thanks for the tip! yes I noticed those rogue pieces of wood too :)))

[@heartandsoul2458]

This is dolomite (calcium magnesium) which they apply to Orchiata in the final stages of production. Dolomite is a natural mineral that contains calcium and magnesium. Research shows dolomite addition to substrates is very beneficial. They add dolomite to Orchiata to: Stabilise the substrate by increasing the pH to within a range of 5.5 to 6.5 Prevent salt accumulation Provide the minerals calcium and magnesium, essential for plant growth The dolomite in Orchiata provides the plant with an initial start up supply of these two minerals. Growers must remember though that after a good length of time (around 9 months), dolomite will have broken down and growers must reapply dolomite or other liming compounds to maintain optimum plant growth.

[@debbiemccane459]

I use orchiata bark and love it.

[@karenhaygood2644]

I did repot my oncidium and did notice I had a couple of crinkled leaves I guess I did let it get to dry

[@raygv1]

I think I read somewhere that they add dolomite lime to combat acidity. They say that's why the orchids seems to take off when they are potted in fresh orchidiata

[@blackdemon7851]

Good!!! thanks for this video i got a lot oncidiums they got problems in pine bark so thanks again this video help me a lot

[@ci1075]

Hello, the dust is dolomite which Orchiada adds at the end of the whole process. If you watch the orchiada webinar on Aos.org they explain the whole process and the reason for the added dolomite. Hope this helps. C

[@etanaf]

I'm confused. Just last week you repotted Oncidium in Repotme imperial Oncidium bark, which I then bought and used, and like better than the leca mine were in, which was too dry at the top.. Which Oncidium are you potting in Sphagnum moss, and which Oncidium in the tiny Repotme bark? How do you decide? Are you just experimenting with both? I kept expecting you to megaton in this moss video some comparison to last week's moss video. Thanks. Etana, subtropical Florida

[@TY-ob7fz]

Hi Danny. Using the microfiber with the moss might cause the moss to degrade faster since it'll be soggy all the time ? Does moss become acidic when broken down ? Maybe repotme can make a stabilizing stake to prevent orchid from wobbling when the oncidium is rooting ? Maybe they can also sell larger bags of moss. You can unpack and store your 40 liter in a large garbage bag so it won't be so messy. But then your grow room might look messy. And ever and ever ... 🙈🙉🙊

[@chandrahubbard-wright9527]

You showcase an orchid at the end. What is that? It beautiful

[@zsarnojuli]

Danny how many bulbs do I need hold at least? I have an oncidium containing 5 bulbs, but only 2 seems to be alive.. thx!

[@satyabanbhunia1]

You have experimented with so many types of potting media for Oncidiums. So far, which combination of potting media is best suited for Oncidium in general?

[@paprikagirl5496]

I have concerns about the sphag moss becoming and staying moist too long with the method Dany is demo-ing in this video. I tried self-watering pots with sphag moss and it became and remained so moist that it started some rot on some roots. I wonder if the leca could be used at bottom of self-watering pots as a layer, then it would be a slower continuous conduit for moisture for sphag moss above it... and perhaps some bark or pebbles as a top layer? Has anyone tried this?

[@MissOrchidGirl]

Hi, leca will not help anything as a bottom layer, moss is so whicking that it will always be saturated and even throughout if it has a water source. Either don't use the method if it doesn't work out, or don't saturate the moss in cold seasons. Funny enough I talked about it today but edited it out as the video was too long, it's a discussion for tomorrow or the following days :)) ps: don't be afraid to use first person, I read comments :))

[@paprikagirl5496]

@@MissOrchidGirl Thank you! Will try to think of how to handle longish periods away from home. Maybe a topic to explore in the future?? ; )

[@sueze3300]

how do I find the community section you mentioned ?

[@oxigen85]

I ended up in a half-theoretical conversation today and I need some perspective. Me and someone else were giving advice to someone with a very dehydrated orchid with root rot. I said basically the exact thing you say Danny: cut the flower spikes right away, clean off properly, keep in a moist environment tex on top of sphagnum moss. Then the other helper said that it's very important not to cut the flower spike because that is where the orchid is going to get a keiki to be able to survive. She said that she always leaves the flower spike on sick orchids and keeps taking keikis off of them while the mother plant is getting stronger. Any opinions?

[@MissOrchidGirl]

Hi, that is a great question actually :D ok, your friend is right, a sick orchid could produce a keiki on the spike, it is just a highly improbable and risky scenario. Most of the times it will not produce anything though, it will try to put out roots, but any structure maintained green consumes 'energy', aka sugars. So on top of recovering, an orchid will try to maintain in good condition her spikes. In case the nodes are prompted to 'wake up' by hormonal changes caused by the stress, there will be a massive surge of energy directed to the highest node usually (here is more on apical dominance btw www.repotme.com/orchid-health/KeikiGrow-Plus.html) BUT.. here's the sad part. A keiki costs more than a root. We need to wake up the eye, form the stem, form some leaves, form some roots, even so the keiki cannot hydrate himself and will depend solely on the mother plant and then, after months and months of energy drainage, it is capable to hydrate itself. This scenario almost always ends in the death of the mother orchid before the keiki matures enough, furthermore complications can appear. If you watched my last update on keiki grow paste, you might have notices that the increased sugar flow in the spike 'woke' up the buds bellow as well, so 4 keikis can start to develop at the same time for example. This speeds up the decline of the mother plant. In conclusion: if there are some roots, the mother plant COULD.. not will.. support keikis. If there are no roots, statistics suggest it will die before keikis fully mature. Most of the times the result is dead keikis, dead orchid. So it's a personal choice and depends on the state of the mother orchid. I believe it's always good to try things yourself, people embellish stories, extrapolate erroneously or draw the wrong conclusions based on what they see or hear, you can always cut the spike before the point of no return with a little observation :)

[@oxigen85]

@@MissOrchidGirl That's exactly what I said, that promoting root development results in the plant getting better, and then in time it can safely produce a keiki if needed/it chooses to. I can totally understand leaving (part of) the flower spike on if the orchid has ruined crown, because then the only way it can survive is through keikis, and the extra nodes on the spike can provide extra opportunities for the plant. However, the orchid we were talking about didn't seem to have any problem with its crown, only the roots and maybe the bottom of the stem. (The person I am discussing with refers to the bottom of the stem as crown, which for me either sounds wrong or a confusion due to language problems.)

[@MissOrchidGirl]

Hi, yes we refer to the top of the stem as the crown. It might be a language missunderstanding at some point :p

[@oxigen85]

Danny how do you keep the moss "fresh"? I bought a bag and hydrated it, I wanted to use longer strains so I did't want to cut a small cube. But maybe I should have, since after a couple of days, the unused moss ended up with an orange coating - I guess some kind of bacteria or fungi...

[@boblaurieg.8649]

Hi, I hydrate the moss to decompact, then lay out to air dry. When completely dry, I store it loosely in a bag, so I can easily separate and rehydrate what I want to use later without damaging the moss strands. Do not store wet, or it will grow stuff! Hope this helps.

[@oxigen85]

@@boblaurieg.8649 Well yeah, but mine started growing "stuff" before it had the chance to dry out again :/

[@MissOrchidGirl]

Hi, I really don't do anything it just stais in that bowl and dries on its own. Was it the same brand I use?

[@oxigen85]

Yes it was the same brand. Oh well I guess I will just have to try and keep it cleaner somehow. (Like, not on the kitchen counter :D )

[@MissOrchidGirl]

maybe some oil vapors? a kitchen is not the friendliest place to store things actually, try moving the bowl in a different room, balcony, outside even in a dry place :)

[@sippigrrrl]

+MissOrchidGirl Sorry to comment twice, but I looked at the website for the water gauge, and it appears that they designed it to be used in their “orchid grains” and I didn’t find anything mentioning that it would work with other media. The orchid grains that they have for Vandas in the Orchitop pot does have me interested, but I’m guessing that shipping would be prohibitively expensive, just like the nice, flat sheets of Styrofoam that I have are very expensive to mail to Cyprus, not because of the weight, but because of the size of the package.

[@MissOrchidGirl]

Hi again :P no worries, I'll raid my bf workplace for some recent packaging and I'll find some Styrofoam :P the meters are actually made for seramis media, I see they break the end plastic to reach the bottom of the vases, but originally Seramis designed them with the little plastic at the end. I tried them with seramis, same result :(

[@KAMJKJ]

Good evening all from india

[@matthewcondon1985]

Hey #MissOrchidGirl! I just liked you Facebook page...doesn't look like you are too active there. Have you ever considered staring a FB Orchid Growing Group? There are a few orchid groups out there, but I bet your fan base would make for a great orchid grower FB group. A great place for your viewers to share their photos and experience with success and failure. You will, for sure, need to round up some friends to be admins to help keep the group going. Maybe you could get some of the other orchid KZbinrs to all be admins. Just a thought. Thanks for what you are doing!

[@MissOrchidGirl]

Hi, I actually don't like groups, or forums.. I was an admin for a few years on one lol and I also don't like Facebook, especially now with their issues. I only have that page just so no one impersonates me. But there are many orchid groups out there I'm sure!

[@heatheredwards2982]

I just got a den. sineal

[@oxigen85]

Hah! you are not first.

[@KAMJKJ]

Yup🎅😅

[@oxigen85]

@@KAMJKJ :D