Blooming my Bifrenaria harrisoniae 'Ruth' AM/AOS

[CleverMonkey]

I’ve had this plant for about 20 years, but this is the first time it’s bloomed. I’m posting this in case it may help those who don’t have quite that much patience. Flowers are about 2 ½ - 3 inches wide, fragrant but with a very odd scent I can’t even begin to describe.

I don't know if this is the secret to getting the Bifrenaria harrisoniae to bloom, but here's exactly what I did that may have done the trick. Mine lives outdoors year-round in bright light but trying to avoid much direct sun. I should preface this by explaining I’m in Oakland CA, sometimes shown as being Zone 9b, but the Bay Area has microclimates due to our ocean/bay/hills geography, and my part of Oakland is 10a. And it’s a Mediterranean climate – we have no rain from June to October, then where I am maybe a total of 24 inches of rain (when not in drought) spread out from October through May. It can get chilly in the winter but usually doesn’t go down much below 42-45 F or so at night, but the plant can take lower than that sometimes with no problem.

Back in late March 2021 I gave it a top sprinkling of Nutricote 18-6-8 (180 day formula) using the amount recommended by the manufacturer for the size pot it's in. Then in Sept I gave it two feedings of liquid 10-10-10, one feeding of the same in October and one feeding again in November. As for watering, I watered it moderately during the spring, summer, and fall, letting it dry between waterings, but when the chilly weather came, I put it under my bistro table so it would not get any rain, and then watered it extremely sparingly, to the point I worried I was being a bit ruthless in withholding water.

Then this late March, I again gave it the top sprinkling of the Nutricote and watered moderately. Currently, in addition to the 4 flowers, it has 1 full size new leaf and 6 new little leads. Hopefully I can get it to bloom next year – time will tell.

I should also mention that they’re notorious for not liking repotting, but mine has taken dividing and repotting without skipping a beat - maybe it was just lucky timing, or I’ve got an especially vigorous plant. And I propagated 2 of the 4 old pseudobulbs.

Flowers are more of a light cream than the yellowish cast they have in the photos.