cycnoches care. please help me help my cycnoches.

[truszkowski]

an otherwise avid indoor gardener, i am painfully new to the world of orchids. my girlfriend gave me a yellow blooming cycnoches this past christmas but sadly i am not sure of the exact name....i will post a photo when it flowers (hope hope) and maybe someone can identify it for me. anyways, it flowered and bloomed, went dormant for a while and it started growing a second 'stalk'. things were going great, with the numerous leaves growing rapidly. unfortunately, the leaves have started to go brown (not yellow) from the tip to the base and it is not looking very healthy. i have read all of the other threads about cycnoches and they mention heavy watering and heavy fertilizing but no specific amounts are cited. i was also unable to find any clear info regarding light (i live in toronto with west and south facing windows). so. any and all help would be very much appreciated.

[brookn]

are you fertilising? It sounds like fertilizer burn. Not an expert, but that sounds like it could be the problem. You might give the plant a really good flushing and try using less fert.

[arleneg]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Watering -- when the potting medium is slightly dry (not hard dry). Try the skewer method. You can find it in this forum by searching with the keyword skewer.

Fertilizing -- once a week (every seven days) at full strength. I've been using worm tea since I discovered the new growth on mine. However, if you're using an orchid fertilizer, like Gro-More, I read somewhere that a high nitrogen fertilizer is best during growth. If you're not using a fertilizer specifically for orchids, I would use 1/2 strength.

Browning leaves could be an indication of fertilizer burn. Flush it out with water.

Here's a link to AOS' culture sheet:

Cycnoches culture

They belong to the Catasetum family.

If you can post a pic of it, that would be helpful in diagnosing the orchid.

HTH

[kmarch]

truszkowski,

Welcome to the forum! I've grown a variety fo Catesetum, Cycnoces, and Mormodes over the years. They're great, fun orchids to grow but are quite different in their habits than other orchids. Take Brookin's advice ang get that culure sheet and give it a good read.

Before giving any advice, I need to ask a few questions:
1) is the new cane, the one with the dying leaves, fat and mature?
2) if you gently wiggle the growth with dying leaves, is it firm or "loose" feeling?
3) can you see any new roots coing out fo the new growth and going down into the mix?
4) have you been fertilizing?

Browing leaves in Cycnoces can be caused by several different things so we need a little more info before we give any kind of accurate diagnosis. If you have pics, they woud be helpful.