Conditions for orchids growing well, or just remaining healthy, not to flower?

[HiOrcDen]

I have been growing my orchids for close to two years now. I have about 60-70 of them now, the great majority outside in shade houses.

So far only six or so have actually started flowering. Most I have purchased have been specified as 'mature', and some as 'blooming size'.

It has just occurred to me to wonder, whether there might be conditions for an orchid to be good enough to remain healthy, or even to grow vigorously, without being good enough to flower, and yet the health of the plant not diminishing.

Is this at all possible? If a plant is remaining healthy, but growing very slowly, or if a plant is growing quickly, in either case can conditions not be ideal enough for flowering?

[Louis_W]

Absolutely!

The culprit is usually light. Light conditions can be such that the plant grows just fine and looks totally healthy, but it doesn't have quite enough extra energy to flower.

Sometimes an overdose of nitrogen will also do this. The plant grows vigorously but it's almost forced to keep growing rather than flowering.

[rbarata]

It depends on the orchid.
There are about 28.000 known species, not counting with hybrids, living everywhere (except Antarctica), with different requirements, different growing speeds, etc, etc.
Also, some plants simply don't bloom, probably due to genetics.

[Keysguy]

I agree with Louis that the culprit of inhibiting good flowering is usually light but I'll throw in something else.

I have found that even when buying a mature or "blooming" size orchid, they tend to sulk for awhile and not do a heck of a lot because you have changed the environment that they were in from whoever you bought it from. And that happens on a micro level even if you got it from your next door neighbor. Not everything in your grow space or culture is exactly the same as theirs is.

As we often say on this board......patience is a virtue, especially in orchid growing.

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Louis_W

Absolutely!

The culprit is usually light. Light conditions can be such that the plant grows just fine and looks totally healthy, but it doesn't have quite enough extra energy to flower.

I agree. I've found that the overwhelming majority of blooming sized plants that don't flower are lacking sufficient light to do so.

[Roberta]

Lots of good advice here - I agree, light (especially, not enough hours of light) is a major cause of non-blooming on healthy plants.

Also consider time of year - you may be pleasantly surprised as spring gets underway. For instance the temperate-zone Australian Dendrobiums do most of their blooming in late February or into March depending on the weather. (That works out well for the spring shows, when you may see some amazing specimens) C. (L.) purpurata plants tend to do their thing in May or June. (And tend to need to get large) So having orchids for only 2 years (during which they had to adjust to your conditions), for many of them you haven't seen their full cycle yet. Patience, patience.

[sunfire]

Hi! I am also in the two years club here! I bought many of my plants as seedlings but also some full grown plants bought in bloom that I expected to bloom for me again on schedule but did not. After upping the light and making sure the conditions were stable I have buds this year!!! Definitely patience and a little bit of fiddling (but not too much fiddling ).

[Keysguy]

and a little bit of fiddling (but not too much fiddling ).

You got it!