Tolumnia Genting Orange

[Daenerys]

I purchased this one from Hausermann's almost three months ago and it arrived with the start of a spike. The flowers opened last week. There are 26 blooms, and they are slightly fragrant. The flowers all start out yellow, but develop spots and an orange hue over the course of a week.

One odd thing about this blooming, is that the flowers all look very different from each other (see attached photo). While the one clearly deformed type (no skirt at all) may be the result of me using Superthrive while the spike was growing, the rest look 'normal' just very different from each other.

[camille1585]

How pretty, I love Tolumnias! Neat how each bloom is different, you'd think they were each from a different plant!

[WhiteRabbit]

cute! interesting how different they are

[james mickelso]

Oncidium alliance does this from time to time. I have one similar. No insect damage during inflorescense development or virus', or cultural difference during growth. But here s something similar.....

[nenella]

Cool to see all the different colours. I didn't know they changed colours. Very interesting!
The only one I have is Twinlke Red & it does not change colour.
Thanks for posting,

[Bud]

Very nice. I have always liked Tolumnias....that have festive colors....I specifically love the polka dots on the petals

[flexdc]

I am growing one now. Has anybody heard that they are sensitive to high PH water? Our water here in LA is very hard. I've been growing mine in it for the last few months, and it seems to be doing ok except for the mineral scales on the leaves.
Also, if I refresh the medium regularly will that help to negate effects from hard water?

Thanks for the help.
Andrew

[james mickelso]

What happens is the salts clog the pores of the roots and eventually it starts to take a toll on the leaves. It reduces vigor and stalls flowering. The leaves can burn especially on thin leaved plants like the oncidiums and tolumnias. Cyms leaves burn from the tips down. I use the RO water you get from the machines in front of the supermarkets. Even if you blend tap water and the RO it is still better than straight tap water. I work in the water industry and know what the water is like. It's worth the 30 cents a gallon to use the RO.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by flexdc

I am growing one now. Has anybody heard that they are sensitive to high PH water? Our water here in LA is very hard. I've been growing mine in it for the last few months, and it seems to be doing ok except for the mineral scales on the leaves.
Also, if I refresh the medium regularly will that help to negate effects from hard water?

Thanks for the help.
Andrew

If yours has been growing fine, then nothing to change about the water. Mineral scales can be washed off.

If you mean repotting by refreshing the medium regularly, I don't think that's a good idea as roots take time to establish and frequent disturbance is not good.

[NYCorchidman]

I have genting orange and mine had solid yellow bloom, which I liked a lot!
It's interesting that yours are scented! maybe it has such a crazy genetic make up producing highly varied flowers and fragrance!

I've had one or two misformed flowers per spike before, but yours is very special case I think.
Also, yours is very floriferous! What's your growing condition? Mine never get more than 12 flowers per main spike (not counting the side spikes that branch off and flower some more). Some plants would make tons of buds, but eventually they will dry out and only about 9-10 of them make it to flower.