Who doesn’t love beautiful orchids with pretty flowers? Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite is a lovely hybrid from the Orchid family that is popular for its attractive light-pink flowers. These flowers are sweet-scented and spread fresh vibes in a home.
It is a tropical evergreen epiphytic plant that has a compact structure; it looks great in small pots. If you are looking for a low-maintenance orchid, this is the right choice for you.
Common Names
- ‘Romantic Fantasy’
Classification
- Family: Orchidaceae
- Subfamily: Epidendroideae
- Genus: Oncidium
About the Genus Oncidium
It is a genus of flowering plants from the orchid family. Almost 330 species have been classified in this genus so far. All of these species are native to Central and South America, Mexico, and West Indies. Most of these species are epiphytes, while some are terrestrial plants.
Origin and Distribution
In 2000, Tsiku Taiwan Orch crossed an Oncidium Twinkle and Oncidium Sotoanum to get an Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite hybrid. This plant is found in Central and South America and in the Caribbean.
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite Features
Foliage and Stem
This tropical hybrid has green-colored, long leaves that grow from a single base. There is not much of a stem in this plant.
Flowers
This gorgeous Oncidium hybrid produces small pale pink, fragrant flowers with yellow-orange centers that grow in clusters on long stalks. These pretty flowers bloom throughout the year. Each flower is 1-2 cm in size.
Evergreen
Just like other species from the orchid family, Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite is an evergreen hybrid. Its foliage keeps on growing throughout the year, and its flowers keep on blooming all year round.
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite Height
It is a 12 inches tall plant that looks adorable in small pots. The tall stalks of its flowers are the major contributing factors to its height. As it is an epiphytic plant, it has aerial roots that help this plant grow straight up.
Drought Tolerance
It is a tough, drought-tolerant plant that can survive days of fair neglect. This plant forgives you if you forget to water it for some days. Its foliage and roots retain water and use it in the days of droughts or other harsh conditions.
Disease and Pest Resistance
This tough hybrid is not susceptible to any diseases. Great feature, isn’t it? You will not have to worry about the health of your plant if you grow it in your home.
It is also a pest-free plant. However, if it still gets attacked by some scales, mealybugs, or aphids indoors, you can get rid of them by rubbing the plant’s foliage with neem oil or insecticidal soap. These two would do the trick and free the plant of any such sap-sucking pests.
Growth
It is a fast-growing Oncidium that reaches its mature height in just a year. Its growth rate increases if you provide it with all the ideal conditions.
The USDA plant hardiness growth zones recommended for this plant are 9 through 12.
Toxicity
We are happy to tell you that this plant is non-toxic to cats, dogs, horses, or other animals. So, if you have any pets at home, you do not have to worry about their health when they are around this plant. This plant is also non-toxic to humans, so you can handle it without wearing gloves (if you want).
Maintenance
Although orchids are high-maintenance, Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite is an easy-to-grow, low-maintenance Oncidium plant that can be grown indoors without much hassle. It has the least number of care needs and will stay happy if you just provide it with the basic necessities. No need for any special treatment!
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Dormancy
This plant goes dormant in winters when the temperature and light levels drop below an average range. During these days, you should cut down the watering frequency of this plant. Fertilization should not be completely stopped as the plant still blooms in winters. You should fertilize the plant once every month in winters.
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite Care
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite care involves regular watering. This plant loves to be watered, so it should be watered every two days in the growing season. You should grow it in a bark-based potting mix that has a small amount of perlite and sphagnum moss. The ideal temperature is 20-24°C.
Watering Requirements
Tsiku Marguerite should be watered as soon as its soil starts getting dry. The 1-2 inches of its topsoil must be completely dry before you water it. It should be watered every two days in summers and once every ten days in winters. Its watering frequency depends completely on the weather conditions. You should use lukewarm water for watering this Oncidium.
The general rule of thumb is to water this plant thoroughly until the excess of it starts to drain out of its drainage hole. Luckily, this plant will not get root rot easily.
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite Soil Requirements
This Oncidium plant needs free-draining soil to grow properly. If you can keep the soil’s pH around 5.0 to 8.0, it would be well and good. This is because Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite prefers slightly acidic to neutral soil.
For its growing medium, you can use a mixture of shredded bark and perlite. You should also add a little sphagnum moss to the mixture. All these three ingredients are great for increasing drainage for this plant. As this potting mix will be more aerated, the roots will breathe and take in more oxygen.
Sunlight
If you want your Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite to bloom, you should provide it with ideal sunlight conditions. It must be grown in bright, indirect sunlight for optimum growth and healthy blooms. It needs medium light to thrive. If you place it in low light conditions, it won’t bloom. And, if you place it under direct sunlight, its leaves will burn.
If you have an east-facing window, place this plant 6 feet away from that. This would be a perfect spot for this plant’s growth. You can also grow it near the west and north-facing window, where indirect sunlight reaches its foliage.
Temperature Requirements
As it is a tropical houseplant, it prefers warmer temperatures. An average room temperature will work fine for this pretty Oncidium. In summers, regulate the room temperature is around 20-24°C for this plant. In winters, a temperature range of 15-18°C is tolerable.
As this plant is not frost-hardy, it must not be grown outdoors in winters. If the temperature falls below the freezing temperature at night, this plant will get chilly injuries, and it will eventually die. This is why, in freezing winters, you should move this plant to a greenhouse or terrarium to provide it with a warmer environment.
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite Humidity
Regulating humidity for this plant is one task that will require your regular attention. This plant does not like humidity fluctuations. You will have to keep it in mildly humid surroundings. The ideal humidity range for Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite is 40-60%.
This humidity range can be regulated by placing this plant’s pot on a pebble tray. Misting the plant frequently will also increase the humidity. You can also place it in a terrarium or in a group with other houseplants to provide it with the ideal humidity levels. A humidifier is a costly choice, but it is also effective.
Fertilizer
This plant needs proper fertilization for healthy growth and to produce blooms. You should fertilize this plant regularly in the months of active growth. A fertilizer that has a 30-10-10 NPK value would be best for Tsiku Marguerite. High nitrogen content in the fertilizer will encourage more blooms.
Before adding the fertilizer to this plant’s pot, you should water it thoroughly. This practice prevents its roots from burning. The fertilizer should also be diluted first to reduce its strength. You should reduce the fertilization in winters when the plant is resting.
Grooming and Pruning
There is a need to trim the old leaves and dead branches at the beginning of the growing season. Occasional pruning and trimming free the plant from the burden of dead foliage, and it also makes room for new growth. If you leave the old leaves in the plant’s foliage, they will keep absorbing essential nutrients from the soil without coming back to life; so all nutrients will go to waste.
You should always disinfect the gardening shears before using them to trim your plant’s foliage. Disinfected shears will rule out any possibility of infectious diseases attacking the plant.
Repotting
This pretty hybrid speaks to you and signals you when it needs repotting. Whenever it needs to be moved to a new home, some of its roots peek out of the soil and grow out of the pot to signal you. This is when you should prepare a new 1 inch bigger pot for this plant.
Normally, this plant needs repotting after every two years. During repotting, you should not only move it to a new pot but also renew its soil. As the old soil will have all the nutrients and minerals used up. You should fertilize the plant at the time of repotting.
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite Propagation
This lovely houseplant produces pseudobulbs. These bulbs grow on horizontal underground stems and then pop up on the surface. You can propagate Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite through these bulbs. The best time of propagation is from early spring to mid-summer. If you have never propagated a plant through bulbs before, let us explain the basic propagation steps.
- Take a sharp knife and sterilize it using 70% isopropyl or ethanol.
- If you hold the knife under fire, it will disinfect quickly.
- Anyways, take the knife and cut the vertical pseudobulb from the plant.
- Cover the bottom stem of this bulb with sphagnum moss.
- You can tie a thread around this bulb to keep the sphagnum moss in space.
- Place this bulb in a small container and water the moss.
- It should be kept moist all the time.
- Its placement must be under bright, indirect sunlight.
- In about a month or two, new shoots and roots will grow out of this bulb.
- After that, move this baby Oncidium to a proper pot.
- You will get a mature plant in about a year.
Summary
Oncidium Tsiku Marguerite is a lovely, compact, low-maintenance orchid hybrid that is grown as a houseplant for its beautiful small flowers. You can grow it in your home to add a splash of color to your plant collection. This small Oncidium can be grown in numerous places inside a home in small, adorable pots.
