Question about Sharry Baby please help

16 years ago

Ok so up until now I have only grown Phals. I just received a Sharry Baby that I ordered from Hausermans it is in a tiny plastic 3 inch pot and is so root bound it does not fit in the pot. I can't even tell what kind of medium it is potted in because all I see are roots and pbs. The plant itself is about 2 feet tall. The plant is in spike.

Do I have to wait until it finishes blooming to repot it?

Are Oncidium roots white only or should there be green ones as well, because all I see are white ones.

How can I tell which pbs are the oldest? Some are nice and plump others are a bit shriveled looking. They are all nice and green but very crowded in the pot.

If I divide them will it delay reblooming later or help it?

And finally what exactly do I do to divide pbs? do they just come apart or do they need to be cut at all? I am as you can see not at all familiar with dealing with pbs. Please help with any suggestions and advice you can.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

bradarmi
16 years ago
Do not repot until it is done blooming..keep it well watered, and the humidty high, it should last quite a while in bloom. I just repoted mine (for some reason, mine is also from Hausermann's but blooms only in the fall). In any case, I have a problem with remembering to water it, so I planted it in a mixture of sphagnum and orchid mix, (the one from Home Depot, Miracle Grow or Scott's, can't remember which?). It put out new growth and I have it hanging in a tree facing east. It seems to be happy, we shall see.
By the way, the biggest bloom I got was last year, since I neglected it in late fall. Try not to let the pb's dry in this heat..I think it is impossible to overwater them in this heat, if they are outside. Obviously, cut back as the cooler weather approaches, which wont be too far away.
Hope that helps..have fun
richardol
16 years ago
Leave it alone for now.

To advise you more, I need to know how many pseudobulbs you have. If it is less than six, don't even think about dividing it. It can probably use a re-potting later.

White roots are good. Green tips are desirable, but may not occur until active growth starts.
Related Discussions
Inherited HUGE Sharry Baby...
Q
Comments (7)
I've had one for about 10 years, for me they don't seem to be fussy about growing conditions. High light + high heat will burn the leaves so in the summer I would keep it a bit shaded, they tend to get brown spots on the leaves when there is to much light. I'm in NJ and keep mine outside May to Sept and in a sun room in the house over winter. I divide it every 3-4 years to keep it manageable. They don't flower on old growth and almost divide themselves by growing out in different directions while the center dies back. I cut the p-bulbs with leaves into groups og 3 to 5, p-bulbs that have no leaves but are still green I cut off and put in and empty pot in a shady area, they usually grow new plants. Its good to divide them before the new shoots start to grow roots so they adapt to the new media. They also like small pots.
...See More
Sharry Baby spike is too tall? what to do?
Q
Comments (24)
Hah, Arthur! My response to running out of room has always been to build more growing space! At the peak of my obsession, last time, I built a 10' x 20' greenhouse with a single-pitch roof with a 12' peak and a 4' x 10' section designed to grow cool growers in SE Texas (which is to say, it was walled off and built to accomodate a 5,000 BTU window-unit air conditioner). Part of that is that I come from engineers, part of it is that I am a typically stubborn Pollack, and part of it is that I have access to lots of building materials cheap/free. Honestly, the only limits to anyone's collection should be financial and of course, how much they are willing take care of, in my humble opinion. But then, I am an admitted hedonist. -Cj P.S. My great aunt still has that GH on her property...one day, when I am settled down and have the land for it, I am going to get that CH back, because there is nothing like having a customized-to-your needs greenhouse. Especially a huge one. LOL!
...See More
Has everyone grown Sharry Baby at some point?
Q
Comments (3)
Good grief! I was going back and forth between this forum and the Orchid Forum and posted this question on the wrong one. So sorry. K
...See More
Sudden spots on Sharry baby
Q
Comments (10)
Lisa, Where DO you live? The way I read your outside growing conditions it is moss and lichens conditions.......☺. Your inside conditions sound pretty reasonable. I'm suspecting your SB picked this problem up and you did not notice it until you had spread it around by misting. If all the leaves and (at least some of the pseudobulbs) are showing the problem), I would suggest.....Take the plant out of the pot so it can dry completely...Remove all-yep, I said all the leaves right down to the top of the pseudobulbs, and remove all affected pseudobulbs that you need to right down to the rhyzomes (don't sever the rhizome unless absolutely necessary, or you find a natural breaking point and want to divide the plant). Spray the entire thing with a good fungicide (I no longer grow on a large scale, so am not up on what is available) Hopefully someone will help us out here, or check with your local agriculture university service, or a co-op store or good local ag. retail store. lay the plant out where it can dry quickly, and watch it closely. If the problem stops, wonderful......wait at least a week, maybe two.....no water......trim out any bad roots, and then repot in clean wet mix and don't water again for another week, then only water the roots. The plant will either put out new growth, or the disease will continue and you will loose the plant at some point along this process. This is radical treatment I know, but here hobby growers have a huge advantage over commercial growers. A commercial grower would have removed your plant to an incinerator immediately, and probably sprayed the area with fungicide. They can't afford an infection, nor the time for individual treatment. Hobby growers, on the other hand usually consider their plants more like pets, and can and will do what ever they can to save one. The process and experimentation is a great learning experience for anyone interested in keeping up with your progress, so be sure to let us know the outcome of what ever you decide to do. I wish you the best in this one. I've been there, done that, and you should see the collection of T-shirts I have hanging in my closet........ Bill
...See More
mehitabel
16 years ago
Don't divide it. You will get much bigger and more frequent bloomings if you allow it to be bigger. Even the old pbs add strength for blooming to the plant.
tommyr_gw Zone 6
16 years ago
Mine has been in bloom for 3 weeks now, i't my first Sharry baby too!
greymoya
16 years ago
Oh, I MISS my old Sharry Baby! I had a HUGE one, it ws one of my first orchids and a favorite, and it was one of the last to finally kick the bucket. I was at an orchid greenhouse last weekend and they had a few, but they were all fully blooming and I prefer to buy in spike or in bud. But they smelled heavenly! It's definitely on my list as I rebuild my collection.
spiced_ham
16 years ago
Most of the roots come out between the time when the new growth is half grown to full grown, and slows a bit once the pbulb starts to "inflate". I try to repot all of my oncid during that time because the new roots go right in and become established on the peices of medium. Once you pull the plant and take off the old medium the efficiency of the roots diminished dramatically. They can't pull moisture from damp peices of mix and only take in water when they themselves are physically wet. Therefore you tend to overwater the new mix in the new pot trying to keep the plant looking good. You don't have that problem if you repot at the right time, and you can trim a lot of the oldest roots off to make room in the pot for new ones.

Growth is in cycles (more so for orchids with few pbulbs) divisins) and if the plant is not growing nothing you do will make it grow, and if it is not growing it isn't because you are doing something wrong. It may take a while, even until next spring, until the growth cycle comes around if a plant is in bloom now (hopefully not).

Question about Sharry Baby please help

Comments (6)

bradarmi

richardol

Related Discussions

mehitabel

tommyr_gw Zone 6

greymoya

spiced_ham

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US