Hi Kate & welcome, Not sure why one spike blasted either???
You have received good info from Kenni & Weng so here is a url that I
use.
http://www.orquideas.com/growing/cymbcult.html
Now I notice that you are in England so you might have to compensate. ie.
You get more rain so
your potting mix should be faster draining.(more larger bark in the mix)
Your best bet is to find someone that grows them in your area. (Contact
someone in a local orchid society)
There used to be a guy in our news group that grew them in
the north of Scotland???
Good luck & keep us posted,
Cheers Wendy

"Kate" wrote in message
...
I have a cymbidium which I bought from a garden centre last year, so
variety
unknown. When bought, it had a flower spike and after it had finished
flowering, I fed and watered it, a new pseudobulb developed and then
produced two new flower spikes. As this was the first time I had ever
been
able to get a cymbidium to flower again, I watched them grow with keen
anticipation, but, to my disappointment, one of them turned yellow and the
buds dropped off, although they were well-developed by then. Now, it had
been rather cold so I reduced the watering/feeding to every 3 weeks,
rather
than weekly, so I wondered if the plant couldn`t support two spikes and
"switched off" one? Or could there be another, more sinister, cause,
please? Incidentally, as soon as I cut the dying spike off, the healthy
one
fairly galloped ahead and is now looking lovely.

Thanks
Kate