Hi, t-bred. I don't think it's too much light. 40 watt fluorescents don't give "too much". But I think ornitho is just fussy and hard to grow.

I tried ornitho for two or three years in a row. I just loved the clouds of tiny flowers, and wanted to learn how to keep and grow them. I got them from Hausermann, in spike. They bloomed, and lived on inside under lights for the rest of winter.

But by the time blooming time outdoors came the following year, they had gone into a long, slow decline. They never made thru a second full year, and I gave up on them. They may have succumbed to the hot summers.

But I think it's just "susceptible" to mysterious rots. I hope somebody here has had better luck and can give you positive instructions. All I can tell you is you are not ALONE! I finally gave up on them.

If the yellow growth is soft and mushy it needs to be removed.

good luck. It's a beautiful little thing.

Mehitabel,sorry to hear you had a bad time with this one also.It just seems to sulk. The yellow leaves are not mushy,just a new growth. I was at the Chicagoland orchid festival last weekend,and was so taken by them in bloom I considered buying another! My senses returned and I remembered my plant sulking at home. I recently read that they require as little as 900 F.C. sounds crazy and I can't remember the site I read that at. Hopefully, there's a pro at growing these out there.:)

I am not a pro. and haven't a clue about footcandles.

I have two plants. The live in the shadehouse all year and bloom early winter. I have them potted, sitting on a wire bench about five foot from the roof.

50% shadecloth winter.
Two layers 50% shadecloth on the roof, rest of year.

The leaves will burn if subjected to high temps and low humidity. They burnt on the day when it was 44C and 8% humidity.

The plant needs seasons and flowers early winter and perhaps in the frozen north you are warming it up when you should be letting it cool down a bit.

Anyway, it spends all year out in a shadehouse and night temps might be a touch warmer than at a nearby AWS.

Low temperature during winter 1C
Lowest Maximum during winter 13C
Average hours sunshine about 6
Rainfall June 392.8mm, July 36.00mm, August 111.4mm, September 37.6mm

Interesting that 1000mm is a meter (about 39 inches in old fashioned measurements) so that 392.8 mm is a lot of rain, yet nobile type Dendrobiums and kingianum are flowering normally in that enclosure. Anyway the dry pattern of a normal winter returned for the rest of winter.

To sum up i think the plant needs warmth, shelter, Sun filtered strongly during summer and then cooling down in autumn to flower in early winter.
I do not think it will grow well in Phal. conditions, my Phals would not survive the year outside next to Onc. ornithorhynchum.

Another one of those so-called "easy" plants that can give us so much grief. I'm certainly no expert, but I've had mine for a couple of years and it is spiking right now, so I guess it must be kind of happy.

I'm kind of wondering if yours might have some root problems? That's often the cause of the type of growth you're seeing. I guess the only way to determine that is take it out of the pot and check.

With that said, there seems to be conflicting info out there about temps for this plant. Jay's says intermediate to warm, but a lot of other sites say cool. When I wasn't sure my plant was all that happy, I tried to keep it on the cooler side - especially the roots - and that seems to work for me. One way to keep roots cooler is to water more, but then you have to make darned sure you're using a really fast draining and drying mix and a pot that is definitely on the smaller side. Maybe that's why these are sometimes mounted.

Anyway, those are my thoughts. I think you're light should be OK. These do seems to have lighter colored foliage. IMO this has plant has one of the most delightful fragrances known to man and that cloud of lavender flowers is just so sweet. It's worth the effort to try and make it happy.

Kevin

I am not an expert or experienced orchid grower. I have 2 of those onc. ornith. before I had a sunroom, they were in a basket by window but it had no direct sun. they bloomed with no special care. the next year i had a sunroom built but I still get little direct sun but it is more light than before. I also keep the sunroom quite cool - right now even though the night temperature go down to around 50 F the sunroom remains unheated. the 2 onc. have 4 spikes and much longer spikes than before. maybe the difference is not only more light than before and also this year i have been spraying them with superthrive and Bill's cocowet, spray and grow and fertilizer combination - all in one spray bottle. 2 of the spikes are more than 2 feet long. the other 2 spikes are about 6 inches long: they have just started about week or so ago. in my ignorance when I bought these 2 plants, i had put them together in one oval bonsai ceramic pot. the new growth from the 2 has filled up the pot. so far it is OK but after reading a thread on that subject, i dread the day when i have to repot and separate them. when they bloom they have a lovely scent which i enjoy very much.

sue

Sue, do not fiddle, when the time comes and the pot is full, just pot it on to a slightly bigger pot without disturbing the plant too much. That way, eventually, you will end up with a beautiful specimem plant.
50F is not cold. The plant will easily take night temperatures down to 40F. Not all orchids come from the tropical lowlands.

Thanks for all the advice!!! Kevin, I transplanted it when I recieved it about 6 months ago, It had very few decent roots then. I always use those clear aircone pots when possible so that's what this is potted in. I see some new roots but not many.Do you allow yours to cool off in the fall?You are right, not much info on these and what there is -very conflicting.
Arthur, would it be of any benefit to put it outside now? I only would have a couple weeks before frost will arrive but I imagine I have lost any opportunity to have it spike this year. I grow it on a light stand in the basement but the night temp. is still about 68 degrees.

t- That may be part of the problem then. Maybe it still doesn't have a large enough root system to support a lot of new growth. Not much you can do about that other than make sure it's in a smallish pot, well drained, but kept watered. I bet once the roots pick up speed, the plant will do better. Whenever I get divisions like that - bad roots or very few roots - I always use a small pot even if there is a lot of foliage. Pot size should be determined by roots, not foliage, but you probably all ready know that.

Yes, I guess mine does cool off in fall and winter. It was outside when temps started to dip into the 40's and now is on my unheated sunporch where night temps are in the 50's, but often go into the 80's and low 90's during the day. I also grow this one kind of cool in the winter 50 night, 70's day. I did notice that it kind of stalled during the heat of summer, but has picked up speed now that the temps are cooler.

K

Passing on giving advice to growers in the frozen north. Just reading the bring them in put them out posts hereabouts reinforces my view that only real orchid growers live there.

All you can do is say what happens in your particular growing area and it is up to people to interpret what is written and perhaps apply little hints that may be found.

Kevin talks about the so called easy orchids, examples Den. kingianum, Den. nobile. Well they are here, but i imagine that they could be very difficult in some light challenged winter places.

I grow a 6"/15cm O. ornithorhynchum in a SE windowsill. It put out 15 spikes in June - all of which stalled in our hot summer. Starting early Sept (when temps started dropping here in New England), I put the plant outdoors hugging an E wall - sheltered only from direct noon sun. Leaves turned very light green, almost lemon yellow - too sudden sun exposure, luckily no burns. Lower night temps (60-65F/15-18C) appeared to accelerate spike development so buds now look like they're 3 weeks from opening. I think this plant prefers cooler temps (Thanks very much to arthurm and aachenelf for the useful tip that ornithorhychum tolerate temps down to 40F/5C! (somewhat tiresome to haul it in/out with the fluctuating temps in autumn) alvin

thanks for the info about the temperature. it relieves my mind. there is something else that is puzzling me: I mist it every morning and water it when it is dried to slightly damp never completely dry like I would allow the catt's to go - it is growing, spikes etc. so I am pretty sure that the roots are not dead.. yet some of the leaves have become accordian-like. do you think i should be misting it more than once a day? thanks for your input.

sue

The leaf color might be genetic.

I bought five siblings as seedling a while ago. Three or four, three grew up with dark green foiage, and one (maybe two) grew up with light green foliage. Nothing I did (magnesium treatment, low light, etc.) ever got the one with light foliage to darken. Flower color varied amongst the siblings as well. Two of the plants were darker pink.

Sue, Do not mist your potted orchids. It only invites fungal/bacterial infection. To raise humidity you have to do something that will affect the whole room or encolsed area around your plants. Misting only affects humidity very close to the water droplets, and only for the time they are liquid. Same for "humidity" trays. Even the slightest air movement moves the water vapor away from the plant before it can build up enough to do any good.

Misting will "sometimes" prevent accordion pleated leaves if the water is in the croths of the sheathing leaves where the new leafs are emerging. It wets the natural lubricants, which dry under low humidity. Low light and fast growth (often from high nitrogen or fertilizing on cloudy days) also causes rapid soft tissue growth which pleats more easily. The pleating is something like a 50 car pileup on the freeway. The newly formed cells start to elongate but cannot go forward.

Seems the non-G/H growers have a hard time with this one. I am no exception. Scrappiest looking orchid I own. Mine has been in spike for months. This is NOT stall but pre-mature spiking. Notice it happens sometimes in the 1st year or 2 with ornithorhynchum and their hybrids. My theory is that when the plant is moved from a G/H to a less stable environment (usually cooler, less humid in a home situation), or even from indoors to outdoors, it seems to cue the plant to spike. My Twinkle did the same and so did an SB that was given to me as an "extra". (like I needed it!) IME ornithorhynchum is extremely sensitve to the smallest of changes. This plant cannot be "pushed" as SB can. It needs what it needs, no more no less. I am thinking of letting mine go after this bloom. It's big and needs more attention than I want to give it. Plain and simple, it's a fussy orchid for my conditions.

ornithorhynchum (I call it ortho-novum in my posts or ortho-novumchum) does bloom late in the year. This is a parent of S.B. and Twinkle. It is a species plant.Tougher to bloom for the reasons arthur mentions. (light challenged North) They like light and cool. Look at all of our zones in this post. Z-5-6. Something we all should be able to bloom with ease. I think we all have too many 'chids and Ortho. needs too much attention.

Phal light is insufficient. Phal temps are way too warm for ortho. I don't see these 2 species co-existing together sucessfully in a grow area. I am wondering why the plant wasn't put out in late spring? If the plant is being watered often it may be creating a rot situation under low light conditions. It sounds like it's stalled. I wouldn't let a plant in the condition the O.P. describes bloom until it's healthier and properly lit. Its growing slowly b/c it is underlit and possibly too hot. Light, heat and water are proportionate. I find this is the least watered oncid I have.

Kevin's observations are exactly what I found as well. They should really be brought indoors in the HOT weather not other way around. It's one that can stay out a long time. Mine is still outside and will remain there until at least the 2nd week of Oct, maybe longer. It does have a tendancy to throw a total tantrum in warm summer weather. It shuts down. Yellow leaves seem to be standard until all the existing growth is gone and the heat is dialed down. The new growth comes in stronger under proper light conditions but still, as Arthur mentions, the plant needs to be heavily shaded. I treat ornithorhynchum like Masde's or a Lycaste. At minimum 2000fc's and the same temps.

Mehitabel also made some astute observations which are consistent with my experience too. They have some "mysterious issues" when grown in a non-G/H environment. Rot may be, in part, from watering under cool/shady or low light conditions. There is no way I could water this as much as other oncids. . I have it in an mesh basket of lava and spag. I didn't water it very often this summer. Misting is a superb "recipe for rot". A warm steam humidifyer works much better than a squirt bottle.
Clara

So much info. to digest!!!The leaves sound lke what Chip describes so I still wonder if not maybe too much light too soon? As I posted originally, this was given to me as a fresh division and I know the original plant was grown in lower light than I now have it. I didn't want to put it out when I recieved it in April because it had very few roots and I didn't want to stress it more going from indoor to outdoor with few roots.I may try putting it out for the next couple weeks just to see if anything changes.I'm sure it is growing too warm in the house but on days like today it's supposed to be 83 outside so in it will stay. Maybe out tonight?

You don't have too much light on it! You don't have enough. If its going to burn under a tube it's been underlit for a long while. You have 2 choices Let it burn or slowly acclimate it up. Don't go backwards to do it if you have had it in the same spot for some time. You may have some burn in the acclimation process anyway. For some plants, especially oncids, I let them burn. No way around it on older growth that has been chronically underlight. The new growth will be more abundant and healthier. What is your watering situation? If you don't have sufficient light, cut back on the water. I choose to top dress w/spag to get new roots going. I make them work and reach for water.

If it were mine, I would not put it outside at this time. It will take a minimum of 30 days to acclimate. That is November. No time. It's very stressful to take an unaclimated, less than healthy plant and move it around, especially at the tail end of grow season. It's dicey for anyone in our zone to have 'chids out now . I watch the weather reports like a hawk. I have a select bunch that has been out all summer. They are being run very very dry, even on 80 days. The angle of the sun is very intense right now. You plant would surely burn. To put it out at night would be severe. For now best to pick a spot and park it. An open a window is a better alernative. Next year put it out in May, depending on where you are in z-5.

83º is not a sustained temp at this time of year in z-5. I would assume you would have a fan or a/c running? sustained temps and warm nights are the problem for ortho. We all should have been a bit more clear about that.

Clara

t-bred, I am not good with ornitho's but I do know this about oncids. Just wrap a few strands of sphag loose around the newest pbs (where roots come from). This helps keep the atmosphere moist and for some reason the sphag does stimulate roots on the new pbs, which love it and grow right into it. This is what I would do for accordian leaves.

Also, maybe it's time to try a little liquid hormex, which can be used as a soak to stimulate new roots, and in your watering solution to stimulate any existing roots.

Lots of people here don't seem to like to use this kind of chemical but I swear by it. Typically, new roots in about a month. I've saved the tiniest imaginable rootless scraps using this stuff.

Clara and Mehitabel, did the moss around the tiny emerging roots we'll see if that helps. I have some 42w cfl's so I will slowly try to acclimatize the plant under those. If this plant makes it through the winter, I will get it outdoors in the spring with my others. It is amazing though, I have a sharry Baby, Twinkle, and Nanboh waltz all offspring of this one and they do well and rebloom. Who knows!!Clara, I am in your zone, western suburbs of Chicago.

Now you're talking! :-)) We need every watt we can get up here! I'll make a wager with you. If you can't get it to survive under the 42w cfl, and the "spag coat" I will drive mine out to you. My gift!

Clara

I've actually found this little guy to be easy and rewarding. Go figure!

Anyways, as many of the other posters have mentioned, it likes seasonal differences and generally starts throwing out spikes for me left, right and center as soon as the days start getting shorter and the nights cooler. Mine is in a 5" clay pot, potted in sphag, and already has about a dozen spikes growing at last count. After blooming, I give it a slight rest in lower light (under shop lights), with cooler winter temps (nights in the mid to high 50s, days in the mid 70s) and less water (I let it get completely dry, NO fertilizer, until it starts putting out new pseudobulbs, usually two to four months later, when I start watering a tiny bit more, with a bit of fertilizer, at which point I also move it back to higher light). Its usual, "Im growing" spot, is right in front of a E/SE window with 42W CFLs nearby, so Claras advice about it needing more light is dead on in my opinion.

Be sure to provide some seasonal differences (longer and warmer days in summer, shorter and cooler days in fall and winter), and your plant will thank you.

Good luck.

Julie

P.S. With species, my number one, go-to bible has always been the Bakers culture sheets. They very rarely steer you wrong and can give you great insights as to what youre doing wrong, along with awesome tips. See their website at www.orchidculture.com.

Julie
Thanks for the additional info. Ortho must love Canada! Mine threw spike pre-maturely. I also have new young sturdy growth. ( I had to let a lot of the old growth burn off.) I don't think it will bloom for awhile yet. What do you suggest? Rest it or not after blooming? It will probably bloom Late Nov early Dec.

Clara

I just never join in these light discussions anymore. In my opinion and from my experience, there are too many variables to take into account when trying to tell someone how much supplemental lighting to use. I guess it's a bit easier to make recommendations if you are growing with ONLY artificial lights, but if there are windows or whatever, things get tricky.

For instance, I grow outside in the summer and inside for winter using a S window and E window plus CFLs. I do not use any bulb over 26 watts and still my plants do fine. Heck, I bloom Laelia, lots of Dends and a other high light stuff. Another reason I know they are not under-lit is when I move them outside in the spring, I don't go through the gradual introduction to the outside light. They go straight from my grow area to a SE exposure outside and rarely does anything burn.

Back to ornitho. Inside for winter, this one is in an E window and off to the side of a 26 watt CFL. If I put it directly under that bulb, it would be toast. I don't recall if the person who started this thread is only using artificial light or a combo of window and artificial. Makes a difference.

Kevin

Clara,

Mine also threw one skinny spike earlier this summer, which has already bloomed and is now branching. I would rest it a wee bit after blooming, kind of like you would any other plant, until you see new growth coming in.

Kevin is also right about pretty much everything. My ornitho., as I said, is near the 42W (actually to the side of the 42W, with my Psychopsis and a couple of Miltonia species right underneath it). And note that this is a combo of natural light with some extra CFL for good measure (only 5 sunny days last November!). Experimentation and observation are the buzz words in orchids, so you have to take what others do, adapt it to your conditions, give it a try and see what happens.

Juile

Clara, thanks for the wager, I'll do my best to keep things going!!

Kevin, I guess I didn't say in my first post that this has been grown exclusively under lights only. I have no usable window exposure (pretty sad huh?) That's the trade -off being surrounded by 100+ year old oak trees I guess :)In the summer I have put my others out on the west side of the house and they have performed well there. Hopefully next spring this one will be healthy enough to go out with them.

I didn't know this plant was considered fussy, either. Here's one more data point -- my orni is in small bark chips in a 4" plastic pot, about 6" under 40W fluroscents on a lightstand which is also right next to huge east-facing window (but the orni is not front & center). It's getting catt-level light. I don't do anything special to it seasonally.

The leaves tend to brown at the tips so it looks kinda ratty but it seems to keep growing anyway. It's got a half-dozen spikes on now, probably a few weeks from flowering.

I've had it for about 7 years, purchased after I got an SB. Not that fond of the scent, though.

FYI, was just re-reading my first post. Hope everyone understood that I meant I let the plant get completely dry between waterings in the winter, not dry for months on end...

Julie

I have one of these, the white-flowering kind. I bought it in a three-inch pot a year ago. It was blooming and had two spikes on it.

I was with a horticulturist friend of mine when I got it and he said that I should not transplant it for a while as it likes to be rootbound. So, that right there may be a tip for you. I am not sure if giving it plenty of room can actually mess it up, but if you have the choice between giving it too much room and too little room, I'd say go with the latter.

The other thing I am wondering about is lights. I don't think this orchid likes to be in the light at all. Mine is in a window that faces south-west. It gets about two hours of direct sunlight per day, and the rest of the time, it just gets dim natural light (we get filtered light because of nearby mature maple trees). I have never put it under any kind of artificial light.

I also never spray it with water for humidity, and I don't use a humidity tray either. I water it very seldom and I have actually noticed that if watered sparingly during bloom, the flowers last longer and the blooming period is stretched considerably. I suspect that humidity makes the flowers go mushy and that's why they drop when they do. I think this orchid likes careless watering. Again, if you have the choice between overwatering and underwatering, you should probably choose the latter.

As I said, it had two spikes last year when I got it. It just finished blooming for the second time and this time around, it had six spikes - that is TRIPLE AS MANY!

My horticulturist friend bought one from the same dealer the same day and he has transplanted it last spring. The only difference we have noticed between my as yet untransplanted one and his is that his has somewhat longer and wider leaves now. As for blooming periods and number of flowers, our respective plants are at par.

To sum it up, this particular orchid seems to like moderate light and moderate watering, especially when in bloom. I do not give it any care other than sparse watering (over the whole blooming period of about three months, I watered it maybe four times).

Some of the older leaves had a bit of brown spotting at the tip, but that is perfectly normal and not a sign of disease. Whether you chop off the tips or leave them is entirely up to you and should primarily be dictated by your taste. Just make sure that, if you do chop off the spotted tips, use clean scissors and chop off as little plant material as possible.

As for yellowing leaves, in my case, I usually have a few of those after the blooming period. I gently tug at them and if they don't come off, I leave them and try again a week later. Again, I think this is a matter of personal taste. If you don't mind having a few yellow leaves, just wait for them to drop off on their own. I think yellowing leaves simply signal new growth, and the plant drops these leaves only so it can concentrate its energy on the upcoming new growth. In my case, yellowing leaves are always followed by new growth a month later.

In a nutshell, my message is that this really is one of the easiest orchids to keep. There is widespread misconception about orchids being extremely tough to grow, and this may push some people into babying their plants. Babying can often harm plants. So, I would simply leave my orchid be, water it sparingly, not use grow lights and only transplant it when I don't see any new growth for a while.

This is by far the easiest plant I have in the house. I keep being surprised at how easy this plant is to grow. Even my ultra tough geranium requires more care than this pretty little number, and that's saying a lot!