Cycnoches chlorochilon x Cycnodes Jumbo Mickey

I think this is one I got at the WOC two years ago. It has finally gotten big enough to bloom - with two spikes. I was surprised that it has no fragrance given its background, but the color is what I was looking for - very much a clear yellow Cycnodes Wine Delight-type flower.

 

Intermediate to warm with copious water during growth and as much light as I have. When the leaves start to drop, usually in Sept/Oct, after blooming (note the irony - everything ran behind in 2010), no water at all until new growth shows 1"+ roots in the spring (or, in 2010, in July). They're in plastic pots with a moisture-retentive medium, similar to that I use for bulbos.

Caveat: I still lose some of them. If I water at all during dormancy, they rot. If I don't, one or two just shrivel up and die (even a little water just makes them rot even if they're shriveling). Lycastes do the same for me. I still struggle with both because I like them so much.

 

Well, I have a Jackpot x Shoalhaven now on the way out and have lost most of the ones in the Shoalhaven/Koolena lines, lost my good Jackpot, have lost four skinneris, gave up entirely on aromatica/cruenta (which is ok as I don't really like them anyway) and my others waver between thriving one year and trying to die the next (Queen Elizabeth bloomed with one puny flower this past year after 15 years of trying to die on me). Some of them I know don't require rest or at least a long one, and some do (lost the deppei v. punctatissima but got another division and it's still alive so far). I have solicited and followed advice from as many good lycaste growers as I know, but somehow no matter what I try, nothing works consistently. I do have two larger plants about to open flowers, one a 7.25" light pink angulocaste and one a snow-white John Ezzy, but they are exceptions to the rule (and the angulocaste goes up and down from year to year). I'm not looking to grow hundreds; I'd be happy with a dozen nice ones in assorted colors that did well. Just when one seems to be doing well, the bulbs start to rot or it withers and dies. I'm guessing I'm just cursed.

 

I've tried a variety of mixes through the years, none seem to make any difference; bark-based, chc-based, sphag-based, including perlite, treefern, peat, etc.. In shallow pots (or regular with styro peanuts in th bottom), I use a phalaenopsis or other moisture-retentive, easy draining mix. I give them as much light as I have, and fertilize with every other watering or so with MI formula, and on the recommendation of some other growers, the last few years I throw in some orchid-formula osmocote in the mix, as I do for the catasetinae as well.

 

Thanks for the input; I always appreciate hearing from other growers. I'll have to re-evaluate (again!) my growing of these; it can't hurt to try something different for a while. They're just so beautiful it's hard to give up on them.