"Ask 6 orchid people an orchid question and you will get 7 different answers"! so here is my two cents
on this topic.
The photos show a medium too coarse for Cyms under most CA. valley conditions. When a climate is hot and dry, it is best to use a medium that will retain moisture longer. Potting mix is not recommended as it holds water too long and does not have the aeration orchids need. Coir and small coconut chips mixed with #3 Sponge Rok (expanded perlite) would be ideal for this condition. Just do not let it dry out completely or stay soggy, as it can do.
I disagree with the advise to fertilize at full strenth with each watering during the growing season, which I assume the writer meant to mean spring and summer, but in reality is ALL YEAR LONG in Cyms. - just slower in the winter. "Weakly, weekly" is the suggested way to go with a flush on the fourth watering. Full strength fertilizing every week with a drying out due to too coarse a medium is the recipe for burned leaf tips.
It is an old wive's tale that Cyms. stop growing at any one time of year. They grow all year, just more rapidly during the warm months. Actually when they are blooming they are starting to develop and show growth of new pseudobulbs and while the pseudobulbs are maturing, sufficiently matured bulbs are developing spikes.
Your plant started its growth mode too late, for any number of reasons. In so doing, the pseudobulbs are not mature enough to bloom this year and you will have to wait until next year for blooms.
I fully agree with buying your wife another plant for this Valentine's day. Unfortunately, the first plant was probably forced in greenhouses for commercial bloom for Valentine's day and it may not bloom at that time again under your coonditions.
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