cymbidium not flowering

[Joseph Stanly]

Dear moderator and friends,
One of my friend lives in a place called Conoor in the Nilgris mountain range of tamil Nadu, India , It is a tropical high land where tea gardens are found , elevation is 4500 Feet above Msl, Summer maximum temperature is 90F Winter minimum is 5F. Three years he is growing nearly 4000 plants for cut flower productiom from t/c stage. But till now no sign of flowering. He fertilizes with NPK 30:10:10. & trace elements during growth period during resting we use 10:30:20 NPK. We also allow the first ground frost on the plants and the plants are in sufficient light regime. Kindly advice how to make them flower.

[Ellen]

Sounds like he's doing everything right. You don't say how mature the plants are. Did they just come out of flask three years ago?

[kmarch]

Assuming the plants are mature enough to flower, I have 2 thoughts on blooming Cymbidiums:

1) TEMPERATURE - they need an autumn temperature drop to initiate flower spikes. In southern California and southern Australia this can be achieved by growing them outdoors.

2) FERTILIZER - It looks like your fertilizing regimine is good, high nitrogen during growth and bloom boost otherwise. I don't fertilize my Cymbidiums at all when not in growth but that might not bee the best advice for commercial growing.

Any commercial growers out there with some advice?

Happy Growing!

-Kevin

[jerrymeola]

I will ask some friends that grow Cymbidiums commercially but my first impression is that you use too much nitrogen for a terrestrial orchid. Even during growth periods I would use a more balanced fertilizer.

I know most commercial growers use slow release fertilizer or inject the fertilizer into their watering system. Terrestrial orchids can use large amounts of fertilizer.

I assume from the fact that you are asking here rather than from neighbors, that you do not know anyone else growing Cyms commercially in your area. There could be many problems. the species you raise may have been a bad choice. Your temperature could be too uniformly cool. Your sunlight may be out of sync with the species normal flowering.

I'll see what I can do about finding you some commercial resources.

[Anton]

I have some cyms which haven't flowered in 3 to 4 years, yet they get the same treatment as all the others which bloom yearly.....
Go figure.