I think it depends on the time of year. During the summer, as far as orchids go, theres not much blooming and can give you some modicum of the blues (until you look around the yard and see all the other flowers blooming). This time of year, though, is often high time for a lot of orchids to bloom. You should buy some fall blooming orchids!

oddly It seems that I'm in the exact opposite position that you're in. some time last month was the initial stage of blooming for my collection, interestingly most of the collection is consisted of juvenile 'chids.

but fear not you'll soon be seeing more then me just give it a little time.

This is the start of the best time of the year for me. Almost everything is in bud or flowering. Some dens are getting ready to flower, others spiking or still flowering since Sept. I have orchids which usually don't flower until spring starting buds. By January, I'll have a lot of flowers.

Buy some more plants and enjoy the dreary winter...

Jane

Yes, it's disappointing when you don't have blooms.....all the work & little to no results.

What the others have said.....do some research and get some fall/winter blooming plants. There are many, many to choose from. Check out the gallery for starters, find out what's blooming NOW. I've finally rounded out my collection and have blooms to enjoy almost year round and my collection is not that large either. Happy growing!

Sheila :)

I agree with Sheila that the solution is to specifically buy some orchids which bloom during the winter months so you end up with a year round collection to enjoy. We used to often have threads started here: "What's blooming now?" They did serve the purpose of showing which orchids are in bloom at different times of the year, as well as a small bit of bragging. Lot's of good culture questions and answers as well. Anyone want to start one and post up what's blooming for them this first week in December?

I hear you, Tyler. It took me awhile, but now have something blooming most times.

CJ, that is a good idea. I would prefer you or someone else start it, and I'll join in. I love to know who has what blooming.

Carol

My Sharry Baby 'Unicorn Raspberry' is spiking right now, but that's about it. Hopefully it will cheer me up in a couple weeks.

Other plants though ...not so great. My Den. unicum, Den. moniliformes, Den. hercoglossum and Den. anosmum are all losing their leaves (natural for this time of year I think). I have three Catts and six Phals that are too young to bloom still, but the Catts and at least three of the phals I think should be fall bloomers when they're big enough. Most of my Angs aren't doing anything right now.

I also just pulled a jade plant out of my growing area which on inspection looked like it had some kind of black spot fungus and it may have spread to some nearby orchids. I'm currently treating the entire collection with physan and phyton 20. Hopefully that will keep everything healthy. I also found a mealy bug on one of the phals. I guess it's not just the time of year that's getting me down.

I don't have a lot of space for new plants, but I guess I could replace some of the plants that aren't doing well (and likely never will given my conditions) with some more suitable ones. Otherwise I'll be looking to upgrade my appartment to one with an extra bedroom :)

I'll take a look at some of the past threads on "What's blooming now".

Tyler

Sounds like a good excuse to buy more orchids! Critical mass for me was about 100 plants, enough to have 10 to 20 blooming at any one time, year-round...

Right now, I've got catts/laelias & oncidiums blooming and winter/spring blooming phals & paphs spiking.

Tyler, a suggestion. Go through your collection and get rid of any plants that don't "Knock Your Socks Off." Why waste your money and energy on plants that don't do well under your conditions? I did that a few years back and it was the best thing I ever did. Now I love every plant that I grow, whether or not it's in bloom.

I agree with all the suggestions above. i also have a couple that the foliage is really nice so whether in bloom or not it is still beautiful. I also like varigated foliage although i haven't found any of those to add to my collection yet.
sue

Okay, there is a "What's blooming now?" thread started.

Even if you only have one plant blooming, we need to get that one added to the current bloomers to offer a wider range of choices.

Are you sure you're giving your plants enough light? If you aren't using some sort of supplemental lighting that could be part of the problem.

Kevin

I'm in no way pretending that my culture is perfect, but I'm pretty sure they're getting a decent amount of light. While they're not getting a lot of ambient sun-light, they are being supplemented but a t5 fixture (4 bulb x 4'). I actually had to move the sharry baby farther from the light as the upper parts of the leaves were getting bleached out.

The light is hanging over a set of nesting tables so that plants requiring a higher light level are closer to the bulbs but still allowing me to give some extra light to the phals without toasting them. One of the Catts that I brought in a few months ago has turned light green and still has a pinkish blush to it.

Thanks for all the advice :) Come spring when there's a larger selection of orchids available in my area I'll be out to replace some of the non-performers. Until then I'll just have to savour the smell of the sharry baby. I still haven't found one that smells quite that good...I always look forward to it blooming, even if it is more common a plant than the others.

Tyler

*shakes head* Oh tyler, tyler, tyler! If sharry baby is the best you've smelled, you're DEFINITELY missing out. Two of the best are Brassavola nodosa and Rhyncholaelia glauca. I'll throw Angraecum didieri in there for good measure too!

lol :)

I have a mounted nodosa and his hybrid cousin Little Stars...lots of great foliage/root growth but no flowers so far. From the reading I've done, this may be one of the ones for which I don't meet the light requirements. I also have a phal bellina and a couple phal violaceas which I've heard also smell great, but the leaf span on those is less than 2". I still have at least a year before I see any blooms there. They seem happy though. Unlike most of the other plants the phals are putting out some solid growth, despite being quite a bit farther from the light.

Tyler

Can I help?

I know others with greenhouses can put me to shame but these are living outdoors year round. Laelias finished. Only one catt ready to bloom.

Here is a link that might be useful: bloomers

Santa Barbara Orchid Estates, Andy's and others have 'In Bloom Now' sections on their web page which does you little good. You live in Toronto. Join a local Orchid Society and by attending their meetings you'll see what members have in bloom each months in your growing area.

I'm in full bloom right now with more to come but that has very little to do with your situation. Buy a couple of plants that bloom in your area every month and soon enough you'll have something in bloom all the time. Avoid the mass produced Phalies or others at HD or Trader Joes, they are artificially forced to bloom year round for commercial reasons. They will not repeat for you at the same time.

Nick

I found on my nodosa and Little Stars that they bloom much much better if the roots are really, really pot bound. They weren't blooming for me and I got disgusted with them and ignored them and didn't even repot them and lo and behold they started blooming their heads off.

Always keep a few phal hybrids or Rhync. gigantea around for winter blooming :). I have my collection so something is in bloom 12 months out of the year. Much to easy to order more orchids (that I don't have room for) when nothing is blooming.

Pity i cannot draw a graph, but this might be a pattern for somewhere like California whereas the graph would be very different for say Toronto or Miami.
The leanest month of the year for blooms here Sydney, Australia is December in my collection of over 1000 orchids (first month of summer) i haven't got any stats for Dec because there is a minimum benching at the OS Christmas party. Counts from my database that contains 11000 records. Note the Autumn peak May 801, The winter low Jul 671 and the spring peak Sep 1096.
In-bloom plants benched by month (total per month 1999 to end of November 2008
Jan 562
Feb 605
Mar 722
Apr 733
May 801
Jun 720
Jul 671
Aug 755
Sep 1096
Oct 1024
Nov 861
In theory you should be able to assemble a small collection of orchids so that you have something in bloom every month. But the size and content of that collection is a mystery, especially so, in a Climate so different to here.

General OS means that we have members who try to grow everything.

Hey, Tyler - Can you say more about the direct light your plants receive? My B. nodosa gets E/SE light, supplemented by 2 T8s, and it blooms.

Although, if your Den unicum blooms... I'm stumped. Mine blooms in a little less supplemental light than the nodosa gets, although the nodosa's almost touching the window screen, and the unicum's about 18" back.

My unicum gets the same light as 2 winter bloomers that stay small - Den atroviolaceum & Den aberrans, plus the aberrans has a lovely fragrance. Some of the atroviolaceum flowers are open now.

Also small and in bloom:
- Den laevafolium
- Den Mini-Snowflake - about 12" tall but grows straight up
- Haraella odorata - blooms all year long but not in bloom constantly
- Masdevallia Celtic Frost
- Masdevallia erinacea (horrida)
- Miltoniopsis Robert Hull - about 10" tall but not bushy
- Sophrolaelia Marriottiana (flava) - flowers resemble little yellow Catts, which I don't have enough light to grow
- Taeniophyllum pygmeas - tiny leafless orchid, mounted, that has tiny, successive-blooming flowers
- Tuberolabium kotoense

In spike and will bloom during winter and stay small:
- Aerangis fastuosa
- B nodosa
- Chiloschista usneoides - leafless, mounted, tiny
- Den aberrans
- Dendrobium Himezakura 'Sanokku'
- Jumellea comorensis
- Paph. Estella - a Paph that stays small
- several Phals

These are all in the E/SE light, supplemented either by the T8s or 2 octopus lamps w/ 26W CFLs. Well, these are on the 2nd shelves, which get lots less direct light:
- Masde Celtic Frost
- Tuberolabium kotoense
- Paph. Estella
- most of the Phals

Hope this helps, Whitecat8

Hi, Tyler
Even though my conditions are vastly different from yours, I can sympathise with you. I grow indoors, with lots of natural light, even in winter. Everything is growing, sprouting, spiking, but not a bloom in sight. There are some blooming orchids in the shops, but I know they have been forced to bloom out of season, so I'm not buying any of those. Instead, I have filled my house with cyclamens - red, orange and pink. They are doing well, putting out more flowers all the time. I'll discard them after they finish blooming (I'm amazed at how cheap they were), but meanwhile, they have boosted my morale tremendously.
I hope you find a similar solution to your problem soon! And let us know what you decide to do.
Judy

Whitecat8: There is pretty much no direct sunlight, just ambient room light. Supplementing this are 4x4' T5 bulbs. The high light level requiring plants are less than a foot from the bulbs. I should probably move the nodosa however, as it is towards the end of the light fixture.

My Den unicum is young (most of my orchids are), with only two pseudo bulbs, and has yet to flower. Currently it's sitting completely bald of leaves. I understand this is normal for this species at this time of year, but I'm still finding it difficult to keep myself from drowning it in TLC.

Tyler

Tyler, one option is to start another thread about ambient lighting and supplemental lighting - will you get blooms on your particular orchids? My info is limited, but from what I recall, you may have some challenges.

When I first started in orchids, commercial growers sold me plants as needing only E/SE light w/ no supplemental lighting, which I'd sworn off, for some reason. One of the light gurus here pronounced many orchids on my list as "light hogs" and said they'd never bloom without supplemental light.

I was mad and disappointed and got supplemental lighting and then got flowers.

Because supplemental lighting is so much weaker than sunlight, I wonder if you can get blossoms w/ mainly supplemental light.

Just a thought to check out - Whitecat8