Coelogyne Usitana Growth Stalled?

[RandomGemini]

I purchased this plant in October of last year as a mounted plant. I found that I wasn't able to keep it anywhere near moist enough while mounted, so I potted it in medium chunk bark that has some charcoal and perlite mixed in.

After that, I went on a hunt for information on how to care for this plant and ultimately discovered that since the plant originates from the Phillipines, I should be following Phalaenopsis culture, which is what I've been doing. The room it's in has humidity between 40 and 50%. I used a CFL bulb for supplemental lighting for this and several other orchids this winter. It seems happy with the light. The leaf has great color. I water it when the medium is completely dried out, which works out to be about once a week, but with the warmer temperatures coming, I believe I will be watering it a bit more frequently than that. I fertilize it once a week with Better Gro Orchid Plus Fertilizer, which has worked great for my phals, paphs and oncidiums.

And here I am... six months later.. and no new growth at all.

I mean like, absolutely nothing. I would love to see this plant do something for me, a new root.. new pbulb, pretty much anything would be fine by me. This plant has one leaf that is in great shape and three pbulbs and is a division of a mature plant.

Any thoughts on what I could be doing wrong?

Could it be time to switch fertilizers?

Thanks for your help!

[WhiteRabbit]

Have you peeked under the small bract type material at the base of the pbulbs?

[RandomGemini]

I have. There is a teeny growth under there that hasn't grown since I got the plant.

[orchidsarefun]

if it makes you feel better.........
I got a Coel lactea on Dec 8 last year. It did absolutely nothing for months - then end March I noticed a growth. Yesterday when watering I noticed another 4 tiny growths.
It seems like these take a while to get going - yours also was repotted in the meantime.
....and I was worried that the pbulbs were too wrinkly !

mine is grown in phal-like conditions. The only difference is that it is in a south-facing window with no shading.

[RandomGemini]

I can give mine more light. I have it in a southeast facing window, but I just installed some t5s. If it's normal for them to grow this slowly, I will just be patient. I would be willing to try a better fertilizer if that would help at all. I was worried I was doing something wrong.

[orchidsarefun]

just checked in OrchidWiz. They recommend a temp of 66-85f at night ( warm to hot conditions ). I wonder if yours is warm enough. Mine - lactea - is 58-75f at night.

[RandomGemini]

I'm growing indoors, it doesn't get below 65 at night.

[orchidsarefun]

yes I know, so am I. Mine is grown in the upper range ( 71/72 ) and warmer during the day. Yours is in the lower range at night ?

[RandomGemini]

Ah ha... it's 73 in here right now. We did have a brutally cold winter and to save on the heating bill, we set the thermostat to let the house temp drop at night to 65. If it needs more warmth, it probably hasn't been getting it.

[Yéri]

Well, C. usitana is still a bit of a mystery to me...I failed at this plant twice when I started growing orchids and went on to other species in the Coelogyne genus.

So I'm afraid I can't give you any specific recommendations for this plant...

However, amongst my orchids I've had several doing the same thing as your C. usitana. Do great, go to sleep for a while and then...nothing!
As far as I'm concerned, I just kept treating them as if they were in winter rest and waited it out. Although I work with natural lighting, which might get the plant to start off new growths more readily than when working with artificial lighting.

Anyway, sticking to your questions now...I don't thinking forcing the plant to grow/bloom/do anything at all using fertilizer is a good idea, you might end up damaging the roots as they are not active at the moment and thus further destabilize the plant.

Temperature might be the issue, but I'm not that certain. I know plenty of professional growers in Belgium who grow theirs in intermediate conditions and they've been doing great!

My gut tells me you should give it a light boost (maybe combined with some temperature rise?) in order to politely tell it it's time to get moving.

I basically just wrote down everything that went through my mind...I hope it was of any help!