It's almost alarming how much water oncidiums like. Organic Kermit is spot on when he says, "Bulbs should not shrivel. Mine used to until I starting watering them more and using a medium like sphag that holds water better. They want more water then what you think." Mine here in central Jersey indoors got watered every fourth day, and outside at least twice a week, more often in the heat of the summer. The medium holds lots of moisture. Once the bulb shrivels, it rarely plumps out again. The new bulbs, however, should be okay.

Thanks folks. The youngest pseudobulb is nonexistant. The smallest leaf looks as though it is coming directly from the potting mix, beause the PB is so shriveled. I'm not an orchid pro, but it looks like my other two are sending out new green roots, but I don't see anything on this one. Would the drip cause root rot? how much should I drip? or can I just mist once or twice per day. I have to fill my humidity trays 2-3 times per day because 1. its hot here in austin, and my windowsill is about 20 degrees hotter than the ambient outside temp (my high is 102) 2. the fan increases evaporation and my hygrometer hasn't registered a significant difference between the relative humitidy in my room versus on the humidity trays. Furthermore, I have an ultrasonic mist maker that I can put on a timer and run for a few minutes per hour if need be. Thanks for the insight.

Different orchids have different growth behaviors. Monopodial orchids like a vanda and phalaenopsis will continue to grow from its crown and for the most part, maintain the appearance of a single plant. Flower spikes will emerge from segment nodes along the length of its body. Cattleyas and oncidiums belong to the sympodial orchids. And even in the same category these two have different growth behaviors. The cattleya pseudobulb would have the flower spike emerge from the crown. This is the segment where the bottom of the leaves and the top of the pseudobub meet. Once a cattleya has bloomed (or the flower bud is destroyed) the pseudobulb cannot bloom again. A new pseudobulb would emerge from a foliar bud (also called "eye") near the bottom of the pseudobulb. This will mature and then have the ability to bloom and eventually produce its own new pseudobulb. Depending on growing conditions and parentage of the cattleya, one or two new pseudobulbs could emerge simultaneously. Oncidiums mostly grow flowers from the base of the new pseudobulb once it has matured. The new pseudobulbs also emerge from foliar buds near the bottom of the current pseudobulb. As to your question about specimen plants: Those plants have matured enough so that they produce multiple new pseudobulbs every growing season. Since each pseudobulb has the potential to bloom, the specimen plants can produce many flower spikes in one growing season. Here is a simplified example. If a cattleya pseudobulb reliably produces two new pseudobulbs every growing season, and if you started with just one pseudobulb. Then after 5 seasons you will get: 1 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 32 new pseudobulbs that could bloom. This is not counting all the old pseudobulbs. But of course, expecting two new growths from a cattleya pseudobulb year after year might be unrealistic for most of us.

If if's all of them, they're not squishy and they look completely normal (smooth & firm), but just really dark in color then I suppose it's possible that they're genetically that way. I've seen naturally yellow PBs and ones with dark (purplish) spotting, but never black. Signs of pathogens such as fungal or bacterial infections are the dark color spreading to other parts of the plant or the plant becoming mushy. Any chance you could post a picture? ~Jem