Dormant Lycaste

[Jorch]

I have this Lycaste for 2 years now, the name escapes me at this moment, but I believe it's a skinneri hybrid with pure white flowers. I bought it in bloom, and after the flower dropped, it went dormant! No new growth for all of 2007 AND 2008! The p-bulbs are all still firm and green though, and I water them lightly once every 2 weeks to keep them alive. I am baffled! What can I do to wake it up?

My other 3 Lycaste hybrids grow and bloom regularly for me.. I grow them all in a south facing window, intermediate house temperature.

Thanks in advance!

[terrestrial_man]

I would unpot the plant and check at the base of the most recent pseudobulb to see if you can spot any small growing tips nested flat against the base of the bulb. There should be at least one but sometimes two may appear. If not then look at the roots and the base of all the bulbs to see if any rot has set in. Without these little arch-like growing tips you will not have any new growth. One trick if you find none is to separate all the bulbs and check each out to see if there is another growing tip present. If you spot something then pot it up and keep humid but not wet.
You may also want to check out your overall temperature ranges for them. While they can be grown as cool growers some species do better warmer and perhaps the growing tips may be stimulated to grow under a warmer night time temperature, possibly 65F to 68F.