Culture for Encyclias alata "Early Bird and Chien Ya Smile

[isurus79]

Try a drier winter then. Do you have a pic of the plant?

[Dollythehun]

I can take one in a few...

[Ben_in_North_FLA]

bought an enc alata compot from H&R way back when and all plants grew normal and all were mounted, no pots. No chilling required and all were reliable bloomers. I would bump up the light on your plant and make sure it dries tween waterings.

I Gave a plant from compot to a friend who lives n South Miami and mounted it in the crown of a clump of roebellini palms and it is doing great notwithstandiing the crowded spot with the cymbdium. see first picture. When I
re-entered the orchid world I visited him on a trip to redlands orchid festival and I claimed a piece of my old plant, second picture. First year put up 9 spikes and second year 10 spikes.
have grown several encyclias and all prefer being mounted and very bright light, none had any issues with shy blooming.
A close look at your plant indicates they may be just a tad small, I bet you will get a nice surprise bloom next spring...
ADDED - BTW, the second picture shows my plant and last winter it got much less than optimal care as it was shuffled in and out of the garage to avoid temps below 45 degrees at least 13 times and a few times it stayed in garage for a week waiting for weather to warm up. I see them (encyclia)as some of the easiest and most durable and forgiving orchids to grow. I grow them mounted and very bright. Have grown encyclia tampensis, randii, cordiguera, ciliare, phoenicia, alata, a few more that I don't remember and several hybrids.

.BTW2, once it starts blooming, all new bulbs will spike, smaller bulbs will have a smaller spike and fewer flowers but they will all contribute to the explosion of blooms. This June my plant started blooming the day after the local orchid society meeting and by the time the next meeting came around it had lost about half the blooms and I chose to not display it...

[isurus79]

Ya, I also think plant size is a bit small with good chance for first bloom this spring.

[Dollythehun]

I am seeing new growth now. Given the crowded pot, would you bump it up a size?

"Orchids teach patience," as Roberta says.

Thanks for the input. I did wonder about the size.

[katrina]

Personally, I would leave it at least one more year. Some of the guys actually bloom better when they are escaping or about to escape the pot. If it's starting to grow outside the pot on the other side, just set this pot down into a larger pot for stability and direct the roots down into the open space between the 2 pots. I sometimes drop some bark pieces or leca and a little sphag down into the outer pot...just enough to keep the inside pot from moving and damaging any roots that grow down into that open space. I hope that makes sense.

Ya is a very compact grower and I would've expected to see blooms for that size. Then again, mine developed rot due to too much rain last summer so what do I know. Lol. Regardless, I wouldn't give up yet...give it a bit more time and I bet you see blooms before too long because it looks super healthy.

[Dollythehun]

Katrina, great you chimed in! Last year Ya did throw some spikes, they all blasted, except for one flower. I thought I was toasting under the lights, so I'd moved it further away and finally put it outside. It's at the mercy of Indiana's heat and humidity, only watered once or twice a week (gasp, with well water). How much light did you give yours?

I have boricana and profusa, both bloom reliably.

[isurus79]

I'm with Katrina on leaving it or simply "potting up" without disturbing the roots. You'd see a lot of smaller pots in larger pots if you ever took a close look at my collection. lol

[katrina]

Steve - yep, I have quite a few pots sitting in other pots too. Works great but I do sometimes curse myself when it's time to get the plants out of that pot in a pot set up...if I let them go way too long.

Carol - the t5s can be very hot and extremely drying...I've lost buds here and there too.

I got mine from SLO orchids and his recommendation was lower end of catt light so under lights I kept it at the ends and a little outside being directly under the lights. When outside, it sat on the 2nd shelf so it was shaded some by the upper plants. Not shady but definitely not the upper end of catt light. Hope that makes sense.

[Dollythehun]

It does. It was directly under LEDs and it looked scorched. I moved it to the side, much like you suggested. So, from the comments, I'm gathering I'm impatient and too good a waterer. Thanks all.