thanks howard, I know that being 14 isn't a big excuse I'm just saying that my judgement and knowledge capabilities are slightly lower than somebody who has lived longer and grown wiser. the reason I changed the care of my orchids is because I finally looked up on the internet "orchid care" or something and saw a brief idea of what I was supposed to be doing for them. the phal you mentioned isn't dead yet, but it seems to be recovering and I think it would have died if I had kept watering it like that. I have the plant names written down somewhere for most of my plants except the ones we bought at a safeway or something, I just can't remember them because they're so crazy! like Pleione. that is the name of the hardy asian one I meantioned but it's so vague I couldn't remember it! then for 2 of the plant's I did plenty of research and have no idea which they are. I was hoping also for possible identification on these two but forgot to mention it. that would be the 4th and 3rd5th pictures. I think one might be a Cattleya but can't be certain because many genuses look similar. the other one I really have no clue. it looks like a Brassia in some ways but I really can't tell. I have been doing alot of research about these plants I have and seem to always come to the same care description which is either water heavily then dry out or keep moist. I have been trying to do that but it never gives an actually description of how dry the bark should get. I just hope to get better at taking care of plants and eventually not encounter problems as often.

I have two Beallaras. One is in a south window, close to the glass, but the window is covered with a white sheer mesh curtain. The other is in a west window, again, up against the glass, but no window covering on this one. I haven't had the one in the west window long enough to say it will rebloom there, but it's looking good. The one in the south window was planning on blooming, but I got really busy with work and let it get too dry one too many times. Both of them have wrinkled pseudobulbs and spots, one of them has accordion leaves. But they are otherwise growing well. My recommendation is using the wooden skewer method. I just left mine stuck in the medium and pulled it out when I wanted to check it. If the skewer is damp, don't need to water. If it's dry, then it's ready for watering. Or you can cheat, like I'm doing now, and pot it in a clear orchid pot. Honestly, from the pics, yours looks good to me. It's a nice spring green, not too yellow, not too dark. You've got lots of leaves. I don't know if it's a Beallara for sure, but I'm guessing you can take care of it like it is some sort of Oncidium type and do well. Once it blooms, you should have a better chance of figuring out an ID on it. Don't worry about the wrinkled pseudobulbs unless the new growths are going wrinkly too; the older pseudobulbs just seem to do that. I agree, keep an eye out for a bloom spike around the fall. Good luck!

Hopefully someone with indoor growing experience will add to this...... But to my eye, the potting material is way too coarse for the type of orchid. Smaller sized chunks of bark and a filler such as perlite are needed. Cannot see the black spots in the photo but if they are very tiny like pinpoints they occur naturally and are not a worry. The end of the leaf dying is more of a worry and indicates that the plant is not happy. Here, this orchid is often killed by overwatering and is not a good beginner's orchid. This happens because the plant always comes from nurseries in a fine mix and then it is killed by kind hearted people. This post was edited by arthurm on Sun, May 26, 13 at 18:06

Hi Gill, Glad to know your orchid is still doing well, and well, we really don't mind answering questions - we all started there, after all. Anyways, sounds like your Cambria orchid (for the unitiated, that's another name for orchids in the Oncidium alliance) is doing very well. To answer your questions: 1) Just think of them as age wrinkles. Old pseudobulbs usually do not die off as new ones emerge, they remain as storage organs for extra water and nutrients for the new, actively growing parts of the plant. The more reserves, the better show a plant can put on for you. The new growths look great, so it would seem that you are feeding/watering/positioning it correctly, though you should note that with those pseudobulbs storing water, you should let it get just dry between waterings. 2) New roots and new growths = ideal time to repot, though I'd maybe wait a week or so for the new growth to be a bit larger and less prone to being broken off by clumsy hands, though that may really just be me. 3) When repotting, you want to get rid of as much of the old media as possible, but don't kill yourself trying to remove every single piece. Cut off the dead roots with a sterilized tool. Dead roots feel empty to the touch or very stringy. If they're firm (and colour is not always a good indicator), leave them there. Find a pot which will just fit all the roots, which could even be the same pot it was in previously. Be sure to pre-soak and rinse the orchid compost before using. To fill your pot, put a little bit of drainage material at the bottom (river rocks are great for those tall, top heavy plants), then hold your plant with the oldest growth at the edge of the pot so that the new growths have room to spread. Then gently fill in the with your compost. 4) Cover the new roots if you can. Cambria orchids often have a tendency to be a bit unruly and can even "walk out" of pots. 5) That fat new shoot on the right is a new pseudobulb, aka shoot with leaves. Having two new growing points (the pseudobulb on the left) and this one is likely a good thing, since that gives you two potentially flower producing pseudobulbs. Good growing. Julie