Cattleya Ned Nash (C. jenmanii x C. dowiana aurea)

Many moons ago, Andy Easton sent me a ton of seedlings on consignment. Most sold out immediately, but this was something of a runt, so I basically ignored it. My culture at the time was not particularly favorable to cattleyas - insufficient light, particularly - and as I have since learned, I was overfeeding the crap out of everything.

Two years ago, this was a 2-growth "survivor" with 2" & 4" leaves in a 3" pot of badly decomposing medium. I moved it into a basket of #5 Orchiata that I hung high in the greenhouse, switched it to a steady diet of only 25 ppm N K-Lite, with the occasional (every 4-6 weeks) dose of KelpMax @ 1 Tbsp/gal, and today there are 30 growths with 4 growth fronts.



Here's an "aerial shot" of the plant in a 10" basket:

 

I don't know if it's the occasional KelpMax that does that, or if the "low salt" nature of my feeding regimen, or if it's the K-Lite formula (probably a combination), but I have noticed pretty much all of my plants multiplying the number of growths at a rapid rate.

The first I really noticed was the Paph Cheryl Ann Boyd I got from Hillsview in October a year ago - single growth, in-bud. By this last July, it had 8 growths. I had a Paph Greyi go from 4 to 24 in a similar time span. Right now I have a Zygo. mackayii that was all-but dead, having one remaining growth left in a 6" S/H pot in the summer of 2013 - I was going to just let it go, and didn't even repot, and it now has 9 growths, with two in full bloom.