dgmra. winter wonderland white fairy won't bloom.

[arwan]

Hi, I'm from India and new in this forum.
I have this dgmra. Winter wonderland white fairy ( large plant), the problem is it keeps producing new growth and no flower spike. I use a high nitrogen fertiliser weekly weakly. Do they need cool temps to produce flower spike?
Any suggestions please.
Also our temps here goes low as 4C in winter, is it safe for the plant?

[silken]

If you are using a high nitrogen fertilizer year round, this could cause it not to bloom. The nitrogen encourages leafy new growth. A fertilizer with less nitrogen and possibly higher phosphorus (middle number) would encourage blooming. Or even just switching to a balanced fertilizer would help. Most Oncidium types start their spikes just before or after a new growth reaches maturity. So you could switch ferts when the growth is about half size.

This isn't a particularly cold growing hybrid. Orchid Wiz says warm to cool growing so to me +4C would be cooler than I care to keep it. Sometimes a bit cooler weather does help harden off new growths and stimulate bloom. But for complex hybrids, I don't think you would require a real cool spell.

Oh, and welcome to Orchid board

[pjoeverett]

I just picked up the same plant in SC and lucky for me I have a spike and I am also going to watch the nitrogen. I will post a picture in the next month if all works out well

[arwan]

Thank you Silken for the advice, I really appreciate your reply and advice. Shall post pictures when it blooms in future.

[WhiteRabbit]

Yes, too much nitrogen can inhibit blooming.

How long have you had this plant, and how much light does it get?

I grew mine in a window that got a lot of sun in summer, and it would spike in late summer. It may not need as much sun as mine got, but you might try an increase if yours isn't getting much light ...

[arwan]

Thankyou WhiteRabbit for your response, l grew mine outdoors in a shade house, so light may not be a problem, it may be because of high nitrogen fertiliser.
I'll be very careful from now on. Thanks��

[POLKA]

Yes
It is high N and/or too frequent fertilization.

I found that 20/20/20 or similar at 3/4 tsp per gallon water used until new growth is about half-grown seems to help me. (Degarmoara WWWF likes to get big before blooming in the first place.)

I then give water only until bloom spike shows, resuming fertilizer as the spike grows until the next growth is about half grown, etc., etc., etc.

You will also find that there is a 2 to 4 week lag between brown flower stem and new growth. Also, they tend to bloom about every 10 to 12 months with this application.

This seems to be good for most of the oncidium / odontoglossum intergenerics.

Hope this helps

Rex
aka POLKA
may all your orchids bloom like crazy!!

[arwan]

Thanks Polka for your advice.