Blooming multiple Odontoglossum spikes simultaneously
 

I have an Odontoglossum cristatellum that has bloomed pretty reliably spring and fall for me for the last few years. It generally puts out multiple spikes, 1-2 per growth. It currently has 10 spikes with two blooming, and others still forming. I’d love to figure out how to get all of the spikes to bloom at the same time, is there any tricks I’m missing here? The plant is objectively well grown, and is what I would class as a small specimen, nearly filling an 8” basket. I grow it in the SW corner of my sun room, it is in an 8” mesh basket in sphagnum, that sits inside of an outer terra cotta pot, I don’t think light is a problem, fertilizer is K-lite at a target of 25PPM N on each watering, monthly kelpak and probiotic preceded by a fresh water flush.

I don't think there's anything you can do to change that. It sounds wonderful. How do you grow that? IOSPE lists it as a cold-growing plant (under the name O. lehmannii.)

Don't argue with success! Having the spikes develop sequentially is just what the plant does. And that extends the blooming period.

I know, I’m probably getting greedy!

---------- Post added at 10:19 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:05 AM ----------

It may be a cold growing plant in its natural habitat, but that hasn’t been my experience in practice. There’s constant air movement where I keep it, and I run it pretty wet. It gets so much light that the back bulbs are mostly purple. I think setting the basket in a pot has helped keeping it moist. I also can’t discount what adding KelPak to my regimen has done for this plant - it’s a game changer.

Whatever you're doing, keep on doing it! That is one happy plant.

Now I want one.

It looks like I will hopefully have 4-5 spikes in full bloom before the first starts to wither.

Mist the spikes, buds, and flowers with Kelpak solution. The phlorotannins in it will slow senescence and they will be carried longer.

The growths may act together as a colony, sharing and storing resources, but each growth is is still an individual, so getting them to spike and bloom simultaneously is a challenge.

I’ll give it a try! Thank you

An update:

The final flower dropped today, my records show the first bud opening on 4/20/24. A full 12 weeks! I tried spraying the whole plant with KelPak, per Ray’s recommendation, which did get another two weeks beyond the usual out of it. It is showing 6 new growths already, and I would expect more in the next couple of weeks, with the next bloom expected around Thanksgiving. I plan on spraying with KelPak before the first buds open on the next blooming in the hopes that it will extend things further.