Catasetum conundrums

[kikitastrophe]

Hello fellow Catasetum fans, I've become totally enamored with this genus. I grow in the cold Midwest and live in the woods (not much natural light) so I grow entirely under lights with humidity trays. I adjust the light length with the season and I measure around 2500-3000 foot candles, and my biggest challenge is humidity. I'm doing ok currently with around 50%.

Anyway, please see the following pictures and questions. Your advice is appreciated!

1. It's November and some of my collection has already gone into winter rest. I thought this was going to be a bloom, but I guess not! The leaves are still on the old bulb. Keep watering? Stop watering until new growth 4"? It looks really happy so I am inclined to keep watering.

2. When the new growth happens above the base, is this a terrible thing? Should I separate the bulbs or leave it be? Why does it happen?

3. Some (but not all) of my catasetums have picked up a habit of the cattleyas - dipping into the humidity tray! Is this a bad thing? The ones doing this seem more likely to bloom, and it makes sense from a natural standpoint that they might be able to find little puddles of moisture in the crook of large trees... But now it is November. Should I cut off these roots to simulate the dry season?

4. This one! Ugh! The first year it grew very slowly (this may have been mealy-bug associated - gone now!) This year it sent up a very twisted shoot that I had to manually open and then it sprouted this ?keiki... Should I break off the whole mess and repot the original, healthy looking bulb in the Spring? Do I let it keep doing whatever it is doing? I have no idea what to do with this.

5. I guess I won't be getting blooms this year on this one. Why do the bloom buds blast like this? What is the window where mediocre care (a dip in humidity or a late watering - what did I do wrong?) Have you ever seen a bloom happen anyway when the bud looks like this?