K Barrett ) wrote:

: "Alison" wrote in message
: om...
: Is it supposed to take that long for a flower spike to start, or is
: this still a case of the not-quite-mature orchid needing extra time to
: get it going?

: It can. Depending on the species that make up the hybrid some catts will
: lay over a season until the day/night daylength gets right and then they
: start ot develpoe the spike.

A few of my catts are far more sadistic than that! One in particular spikes
in the September-ish time frame and then sits there for six months (and
counting) teasing me with the damn thing. It eventually blooms in the spring
when the weather warms up (the sheath is just now starting to swell). For six
months or more I get to worry on a daily basis that I or one of my family is
going bump the silly thing the wrong way and break the spike off. Yep, this
orchid has a very sadistic sense of humor, it surely does. Another catt,
that I got at Kawamoto's a year ago last summer is behaving the same way.

Yet another catt, that was a division a friend gave me, has developed
multiple spikes that have never bloomed (3 spikes and counting!). I've only
had it a couple of years so maybe it's still adapting to my environment.

Then again, there's one of Koch's catts that blooms several times a year and
never seems to go dormant.

: Isn't the sheath supposed to be full of spike before it turns brown?

: Usually yes. Without knowing where you grow I'd speculate that you probably
: have low humidity issues

I grow indoors where the humidity is low and I rarely have this problem. I'd
look into lighting or watering.

Dave