Summer Flowering of Cycnoches? - Orchid Board

NYCorchidman · #1 07-01-2016, 04:11 PM

I have this cooperi hybrid, Jumbo Cooper x cooperi.
It tried to flower last fall, but it never did. It would develop three spikes, one at a time, but they all aborted after some time.

Anyhow, earlier this spring, it started to grow a new growth, which is now bigger than the last year's growth, and just today, I noticed two spikes starting, which is very exciting!
I really hope they will make it this year.

Now, I have had cycnoches hybrids before and they all seem to flower from fall into early winter.
So I'm curious if flowering season is just whenever they want??

Photos will follow later.
This website is no longer user-friendly for me, which is why I have not been here for a while.
It is just so much hassle now.

Leafmite · #2 07-01-2016, 04:36 PM

Sorry about the website not being friendly. I have missed your posts.

I find that some of my orchids/plants have been stimulated to bloom out of season because of growing under lights or, even when we have had a period of gloomy or cool weather and then the sun or warm weather returns. ?

I am looking forward to seeing those blooms!

AvantGardner · #3 07-01-2016, 08:32 PM

Mine have flowered in Autumn typically, but it's not out of the realm of possibility that one would flower in the summer. If the p-bulb is plump and it has skipped a few flowering seasons I'd say it's just chomping at the bit to get a spike out. If it hasn't been able to in the fall for cultural reasons, why not try summer? Adaptation

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Ps we have all missed your posts

NYCorchidman · #4 07-01-2016, 10:49 PM

Thanks, all.

Well, for some reason, since about January this year, this website gave me a lot of trouble, mainly the speed.

Everytime I move from a page to another, it would just take forever, and that was highly annoying and waste of time, so I sort of gave up on it. lol

So, here is the picture I just took.

I have been a bit lazy on watering on this particular one, so it is rather thin, but the number of leaves are higher than last year. and two spikes at the same time.

It made spikes three times, September, October, and November. Each time, it had at least a dozen of buds, which was very exciting, but then just when the buds start to swell up, the entire spike would turn red brown and dry up.
It definitely took up flower power of cooperi parent, which is great. I just want to see the flowers!

AvantGardner · #5 07-02-2016, 12:39 AM

I have the same problem with the site not wanting to load from time to time. I must admit it's very annoying. But, back on topic...

Very good looking plant and I hope your patience is rewarded. Have you tried increasing your fert while in spike? Specially Ca? It might help.

No-Pro-mwa · #6 07-02-2016, 01:39 PM

I'll be waiting for the blooms. I think all of us have some problems with the sight.

NYCorchidman · #7 08-07-2016, 05:37 PM

Ok, so stupid me made a mistake.
This plant is not what I said it was in the beginning.
That plant unfortunately is repeating the bad habit of spiking and blasting.

This plant is Cyc. warscewiczii x Sawn Cascade.
I posted flowers of this plant last year also.
It made a small number of female flowers in September, and then about a couple months later, it made 7 male flowers. It was the first time flowering.

This year, it made two spikes at the same time.

This picture is about two weeks after the initial photo on this thread was taken on July 1.

I was very excited at this sight, two spikes and it appeared that there were a lot more buds this year! until... to be continued...

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Quote:

Originally Posted by AvantGardner

I have the same problem with the site not wanting to load from time to time. I must admit it's very annoying. But, back on topic...

Very good looking plant and I hope your patience is rewarded. Have you tried increasing your fert while in spike? Specially Ca? It might help.

I must admit I have not fertilized this thing and that might be it. Boron and Calcium deficiency, then again, I think it is most likely just the genetics. I'm talking about the other plant that never flowered.
They were treated the same way, but it just keeps on aborting its spikes.

---------- Post added at 04:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:18 PM ----------

As the spikes further developed, the buds near the end started to die, leavning only five buds per spike. I guess it's the deficiency. I will fertilize this better next year.

Then, one of the spikes started to blast all but one bud last week.

So, it came down to just 6 buds total. Ideally, it could have been at least 24 altogether!

Two spikes were crowding each other and I had to force them apart for a better show. It turns out it was not necessary, but who knew?

All the light yellowish buds are the dying ones.

---------- Post added at 04:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:33 PM ----------

And all five buds on one of the spikes are opening up together since yesterday.

The fragrance is already there. Strong banana scent. I love it!!!!

I will post again once the flowers open up completely but just wanted to share how wonderful and different the back side looks!

All male flowers, and a bit different than last years, mainly the size being smaller, and nearly no spots on the flowers.

AvantGardner · #8 08-07-2016, 07:00 PM

Nice looking buds! At least, the ones that are left. I'd love to see it in full bloom, keep us updated. Now...

HAVE NOT FERTILIZED?!?! Do you enjoy torturing your plants? Lol jk... But seriously. I'm fertilizing at 3/4 tsp per watering. Every time. It's up from last year, I was trying to take a minimal approach, Osmocote pellets. It worked out pretty good. Try it next year. That way you don't have to go through the extra effort of mixing up every time you water.

NYCorchidman · #9 08-07-2016, 10:25 PM

I don't know why, but I just skipped fertilizing my Cycnoches this year.
I'm generally quite light on fertilizing, but it's funny that I skipped these because these are supposed to be heavy feeders, right?

Two from SVO have not been even repotted although I was thinking about it, then the spring came, the new growth started to grow fast and I just never got to do it.
They are both in tight sphagnum moss and it always amazes me how the roots stay good in it.
I figured the moss may contain some residual fertilizer from last year. hahaha

Now I have to decide whether to repot them into moss or something more open.
I have Wine Delight and Taiwan Gold in bark mix.
Need to water those more often. hmm

BTW, regarding osmocote, I bought a small bottle from Home Depot a couple of years ago. never used it yet, but apparently it works??

I have heard some mixed opinions, like how they degrade very fast initially as opposed to slowly and gradually release its content over a long period of time.
I do see these granules on top of Cattleya plants from certain nurseries.

So you use osmocote and fertilize every time you water??
How many do you use? a few on top of the potting mix?

AvantGardner · #10 08-07-2016, 11:04 PM

Neil, last year I used Osmocote and fertilized very lightly. The majority of the rest of my collection were paphs and I tend to starve them a bit. So instead of mixing up two batches of different fertilizer concentrations, I applied about a half teaspoon of granules to the mix when I repotted. It worked pretty good.

Since then I've thinned my collection to almost all catasetinae. So the paphs that remain hang from a tree and get rained on. They love it, low maintenance, everybody wins. And I make up my fertilizer to catasetinae standards since I'm more of a control freak about them.

Regarding repotting, I use a mix of bark and sphagnum. No real ratio, just a little of this, little of that. Probably 50/50. Hope this helps