Pest battle with Oncidium — and how I won

I had a serious problem with aerial root desiccation in dry centrally heated rooms on my Oncidium earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate pseudobulbs that store water and nutrients, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a grouping with other tropical plants for humidity and improved my attention to repotting into fresh bark medium every two or three years. triggering a new flower spike with cooler autumn nights was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.