New to Orchids: Advice is appreciated :)

[valhalarising]

Hey there all. So I spent this morning looking for some plants for the new apartment and found three Orchids. Now I don't have a tremendous background in Orchid care. One of them was from a nursery and is a Paphiopedilum Memorial Jack Fowlie and looks to be in nice shape.

The other two were rescues from Lowes and looked to be on their way out. I like to rescue plants . One of them is a Onc. Jairak Rainbow 'Freckle Face', and the other is an Onc. Phyillis Envy X Onc. William Thurston.

Any advice on their care would be greatly appreciated. I'd very much like them to thrive. The two Onc. seem to be incredibly dry. I will attach photos as soon as I can.

Thanks a lot

[Paul Mc]

I would go to the AOS website and pull their culture sheets. You might also spend some time researching oncidium and paphiopedilum on here to see what others say about them. You can always search on here for the specific names, or parts of the whole name as well to see what surfaces.

If the Oncidiums are extremely dry, I would try watering them slightly. You might want to check what they are planted in first though, to ensure that they are truly dry all the way through.

[Zoi2]

Hello and welcome to the OB.
I would pull the oncidiums out of their pots and check the roots if they are from Lowes. The potting medium probably needs to be replaced. Pictures will be helpful in giving you some growing advise.
Joann

[valhalarising]

Thank you both I'm attaching several photos of them. I apologize for poor quality as they are from my phone. The two Oncidiums look very very dry, and the substrate appears to mainly be charcoal (at least at the top of the substrate). I was going to wait briefly to repot them till I could find out what the best medium would be. Also if they are very dry should one heavily water them or only lightly water them?

[Eyebabe]

I agree with Paul. The culture sheets on the AOS are a great place to start.
Oncidiums are pretty hardy orchids and a proper re-pot will give them a great start.
The Paph I don't really have any experience with but the bud looks nice
Good luck and welcome!

[Paul Mc]

Alrighee then. The very first thing you should be aware of - and this is actually quite important if you want to keep them alive - is that your two oncidium's are actually Tolumnia's. They used to be classified with Oncidiums, and still are in some circles, but their care is a lot different.

Here's the most important thing to remember about Tolumnia's. They need water daily, morning preferred, and they need to be able to quickly dry out. They are especially prone to rot so do not let them "go to bed" wet.

There have been several threads on Tolumnia here recently, so you might want to use Tolumnia as a keyword to see how other people pot/care for them on here in addition to AOS culture sheets.

Again, it's important to understand their care difference. Skipping even one day of watering, maybe 2 depending upon conditions, could be harmful to them.

[valhalarising]

Thank you kindly If they are super dried out at the moment, as in the fleshy parts of their leaves are all contracted from lack of water, when I repot them should I soak their roots at all in some water? Or should I just repot them and start up a regular cycle of watering? Thanks for the info on the species

[Paul Mc]

That is a good question and I wish I could guide you on it. I only recently have acquired two Tolumnia's, so I have very limited knowledge on them. I don't even know if my own personal potting and care techniques will work yet or not.

From what I have read from others on here, they soak their pots in water every morning. Others mist them everyday. I would say that my own have very dry roots throughout the day.

In the wild, they are found in the limbs of trees in the Carribean. So they get a lot of sun and rain everyday, along with a lot of wind off of the ocean which quickly dries them out.

As for repotting, I would at the very least pull them out to see what the condition of the medium is. You probably don't want the medium to be wet by the time night comes as they are prone to rotting. Again, this is speculation based upon what I have read here.

Just as a side note, a lot of people are intimidated by Tolumnia's and have issues with them. When I bought mine, I can't tell you the number of people that were shocked I was buying them, or said something akin to "Good luck with those."

Now, don't let that stop you from trying and learning. However, I did want you to be aware of it so if anything should happen you wouldn't feel so bad. I must say that for the person just starting with orchids they might not have been the best, but that is all relative and varies from person to person.

If you should ever have any questions, you will find the people here are extremely kind and helpful. We will do our best to help you based upon our own personal experiences!