Stem turning yellow after flower dropped

[hchou]

Greetings... and help!

I'm a newbie who bought a cym from Trader Joe's about a month ago. I was trying to be careful not to overwater, but then the flowers started to turn yellow and drop off. Now, the last 2 flowers on the top of the stem (spike?) are wilting and the stem is turning yellow.

Other observations: The leaves are firm and green, but tips of 2 leaves are black. There are 2 big bulbs and a small one. One of the big bulbs has small black spots, which I think might be fungus (after reading many posts).

Environment: I live in Southern California, but the house is rather cool through out the year: 50-65 from 6:00 PM to noon, most days.

Please help. Thank you!

[Stelios]

I don't know if there are any Cymbidium species maintaining a spik, but to my experience as soon as the flowers are spent so is the spike (eg phalaenopsis can retain a spke for a second season). I trust that if no pollination/seedpod develop on the Cm spike it will be spent. Regarding black end leaves it is also comon that a Cym is normally losing leaves (some even all of them) but also heavy fertilizing can cause fertilizer's burn starting with black end leaes. A photo would help to better understand if it's normal part of the cycle or you deal with damage. A safe bet would be to check the roots, if the roots are OK then the plant is just entering a more dormant cycle.

[hchou]

Thank you, Stelios. So, the yellow stem is ok?

[Stelios]

yes usually it gets yellow as soon as the last flower is spent (except if a flower is polinated so it has to transfer nutrients for a seedpod to develop)