Recommend a brand of liquid fertilizer for me?
What do you use?

I use a product called Bill's Best which is available through the Tampa Orchid Club. Your local orchid club may be a good source for you. Apart from this, Better-Gro makes a fertilizer called Orchid-Plus and another one called Better-Bloom. Instructions call for the use of Orchid-Plus three times in a row and then a one time shot of Better-Bloom. This is based on weekly applications at the rate of 1 Tbls per gallon of water. This Better-Gro product is available at Home Depot or Lowes.

What I do is mist/fertilize every day at a rate of 1/2 Tbls per gallon. I don't necessarily recommend this but it works well for me here in Florida. It gets hot enough here to require misting or spraying down the orchids every day anyway. We get rain most days through the summer so for many, this is not a big deal unless, like me, you grow in a green house.

Jim

Thank you!

The Better-Gro product is what I use. I also 'amend' with a tsp. of Epsom salts in the sprayer about once a month, and in winter I use a silicon additive called Pro-Tekt once a month as well.

But both Jim and I are in Florida where the orchids grow strongly with good light and warmth most of the year, and just slow down some in winter. Jim's don't slow down as much as mine (even though I am further south) because his are protected better in his wonderful greenhouse on the cold nights than mine (all outdoors, all the time) are.

It's a short window of orchid weather here, but I really feel it would be like a spa trip for it.

Looking for some experienced eyes here!... This is my Pot. Joy Sakabe 'Shining'
Noticed this morning ... Yellowing on this newest Pseudo bulb... The leaf itself looks pretty good, and the plant has scads of new roots. And the bulb feels firm, but... Does this appear normal? Or should I be concerned?

And for a really stupid question...What is the meaning of the Pot.? Which I'm also seeing has changed? To Rlc. I do know that it's a Cattleya...But for this newbie, that's about all I know!



Thanks for any help you can give me!

Hi Tara, not highly experienced here, but I do know that Pot is the abbreviation for Potinara. Here's Wikipedia's definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

As far as the yellow pseudobulb, keep checking it that it is staying firm, and if any part starts to get soft, cut it off and dust the cut with cinnamon. Looks like you've got it growing outside? I'd try to keep it under an overhang when you get heavy rain the next few days. Let it dry out.

Other than that I'll let the real experts chime in on this.

Thanks Elaine...Yes it's outside, but it is hanging in under the eaves, at the outer edge of a covered deck. I'll keep an eye on the rain! Pull it in further if need be.

Thanks for the Wiki. link....I really wasn't sure where to start with that abbreviation!

I am certainly no expert here, but I grow a lot of Cattleya alliance orchids. I probably have 200+. In my experience, when a pseudobulb begins to yellow, it is a dying pseudobulb. That could be from over-watering, media that is old and is now water-retentive, or just an aging pseudobulb. Can you tell me how old the pseudobulb is? If it is a water issue, the pseudobulb will probably get soft. If it is just an old pseudobulb, it will shrivel some and turn brown. It generally won't soften though.

Well, that is certainly depressing to hear!

Ken, this is, I believe a newer pseudobulb...This orchid is one that was "rescued" from a Lowe's rack.
I must add that after I read your post, I went back out to look again, and it appears that what is turning yellow, is a papery(?) film on the bulb. I peeled it back (probably not the smartest thing to do) and the bulb itself does still appear green. This plant did get a really thorough drenching day before yesterday.

Ah, ha. That's completely different then. That's good news. The sheath covering can be yellow and/or white, so that's normal. The green of the pseudobulb is the main thing. I think you are OK.

So glad to hear! So now I'm just hoping that exposing the bulb, by removing some of that didn't/won't hurt!?!?

Nope, as long as you didn't remove the papery sheath completely, it's fine. I remove parts of mine if they are looking ratty, too.

That looks much better in the later pictures to me, too. The one pinkish spot on the pb might be sunburn, too. Just keep an eye/finger on it that it doesn't get soft.

But I'd still be sure it dries out well today and don't let the rain drench it again for a few days to let the medium dry, too. You can mist the leaves if you feel sorry for it, though. If we have heavy rain, I let all the orchids get drenched once, then I cover them for a few days so they don't stay drenched. Last summer they spent a lot of time under plastic sheets, with all the rain we had. This summer, not so much, thankfully.

In the dryer seasons, mine get misted every day, but only get a thorough drench about once a week.

Elaine,

No harm done by lifting/removing a bit of the papery sheath.

to both of you "non"experts! I know you don't want to blow your own horns! So I'll just do the whistling for you!
I appreciate your "non" expertise!!!

Hey, you get what you pay for, Tara!

Ain't that the truth!!!

In addition - I wanted to look up the parentage of your Joy Sakabe to see the names of the parents causing the name change from Potinara to Rhyncholaeliocattleya. (Surely the Brassavola changed to Rhyncholaelia and the Sophronitis became a Cattleya. ) But I wonder if the spelling of your plant is incorrect, as Joy Sakabe is not recognized by the RHS?

Ah, here it is
http://apps.rhs.org.uk/horticu...
Joy Sokabe