Winter rest?

[aliceinwl]

I’m not sure if plants time things differently growing indoors but a number of my Zygopetalum and Oncidium growing outdoors are either in full bloom or spike right now and those that aren’t blooming are pushing new growth. Winter seems to be their season.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by aliceinwl

I’m not sure if plants time things differently growing indoors but a number of my Zygopetalum and Oncidium growing outdoors are either in full bloom or spike right now and those that aren’t blooming are pushing new growth. Winter seems to be their season.

Blooming season may depend on the breeding if you're referring to hybrids.

While there is still some variation in blooming time within a species for those that have a defined blooming season, species orchids that are of blooming size tend to be somewhat more predictable as to the season by which they will bloom provided they aren't force bloomed, (if that particular species can be forced to bloom out of season). For example: if you know that orchid species 'A' blooms in winter, and you own 10 individuals of that particular species, not every single individual within that group will necessarily bloom at roughly the same time. It is entirely possible that 5 out of 10 will bloom within mid-December, while 3 out of 10 will bloom within late December to early January, and 2 out of 10 will bloom in early to mid-January. And if you look at when they bloom in the year by season, well, 10 out of 10 have bloomed in what is considered the winter months here in the northern hemisphere.

[aliceinwl]

I have a mix of species and hybrids. For the hybrids, this is their first "natural bloom" (they were in bloom when purchased over a year ago and this is their first re-bloom under my care). They seem to be matching up with the species and blooming in winter. I'm thinking they'll continue to be winter bloomers from here on.

My hybrids are NOIDs so their genetic background is unknown. I have no idea how closely they're related to the species plants I'm growing, but maybe they do share some genes in common since they seem to have put themselves on the same schedule.