Oncidium Twinkle not blooming??

[got ants]

I bought this plant about a year ago and it was full of spikes and blooms. Well, it's had new spikes on it now for close to 2 months, but they won't open up. Even producing more spikes, but old ones aren't doing a thing.

And now the leaves are turning yellow. It is in a 5" clay pot that was repotted after the initial blooms. I left about 1.5' growing room and ow it's to the edge, so I am thinking of repotting it to a larger pot, but afraid I'll lose those new spikes.

We had a heavier than normal rainy september, and the first weeks of october were hotter than normal. I've been keeping up with fertilizer and fungicide, but I'm at wits end for this thing.

[Swamper]

I don't know much about them but, I would not repot now. Hopefully someone with more experience with these will help you out.

[Maryanne]

Oncidium Twinkle spikes for me in late Aug and early Sept. Patience is required. Mine blooms faithfully near Christmas time.
Good luck~
Maryanne

[got ants]

Well, I ended up repotting it. Upon removing the old clay pot, I found an area that had what looked like white fuzz growing on one side of the roots. I ripped this section out, and soaked the whole mess in a mixture of Thiomyl and Dithane. I then repotted it in a larger pot with about an inch growing room. As it was, it packed to the max in the smaller pot.

I then watered it with fertilizer, root hormone (KLN) and superthrive. In the whole process I bent over 3 of the 15 spikes and that was almost two days ago and no signs of worsening as of yet.

Time will tell if I did this hastily. I didn't see these responses before so I do appreciate them none the less.

btw, not sure if this means anything, but the smaller clay pot was covered with green and yellow mold. I will scrub with bleach to reuse, but could this have been the culprit?

[catwalker808]

I think the green and yellow stuff are more symptoms than causes of your plant's malady. Onc Twinkle needs GOOD DRAINAGE combined with frequent watering and sufficient humidity. Light should be between phal and den conditions.

Good roots are essential. You can kill or damage roots by dessicating them or by keeping them too wet. If roots are damaged or killed by drought or soggy conditions, the plant will look like it needs water. Frequent watering at that point will refresh the leaves, but worsen the root conditions. A hot dry summer, followed by prolonged rain may have provided these conditions.

A large plant with a large rootball will also retain a too much moisture at its core.

As for the flower spikes, they take a very long time to develop and bloom. If your roots are not happy, your oncidium plant will not be happy and in no mood to bloom those spikes.

Sounds like you took appropriate action. I would forget about the fertilizer until lots of new roots develop. Some Superthrive should help to accomplish that. Make sure you have good drainage, especially because of the root damage. But be careful that you don't dessicate the plant.

[got ants]

Thanks for the advice Cat. I used a potting medium of charcoal, coconut husk chunks, ceramic balls, and some bark. This should drain better.

The new terracotta pot also has larger holes than the first one. So it should dry out more quickly. We had some odd weather lately and it has me off sync with my water/fert schedule, but that should get back in order now that the weather has moderated a bit.