Cycnodes Wine Delight

 Cycnoches orchids are relatives of Catasetum that often have very dramatic flowers. The growth habit is a bit unusual; they are sympodial orchids with very large, thick pseudobulbs covered in a layer of papery, light-brown bracts, and with a spray of large, veined leaves mostly near the top of the pseudobulb. 

 After flowering, they drop their leaves and require a dry rest until they begin growing again and new roots are an inch or two long; watering during the dry season, except the bare minimum required to keep the pseudobulbs from shriveling, will cause the plant to rot and die. Many orchidists repot these orchids during the dry rest, often dividing the plant so that there is one pseudobulb per pot. These plants have unisexual flowers, meaning male and female flowers occur on separate plants (or, rarely, in different flowers on the same inflorescence.) Which sex of flowers is produced seems to be partly controlled by temperature and light intensity, but it's hard to predict. The two types of flowers often look quite different from each other.
When they bloom, there will be one to a few flower spikes per pseudobulb, with several flowers each. Healthier plants (bigger pseudobulbs) will produce more flowers. If you're growing it well, each pseudobulb will be a bit bigger than the previous one. The rhizome will branch sometimes, too; if you're dividing it, you'll be able to propagate it often, and if not you'll quickly produce a large specimen.
They like intermediate to high light, 1500-3000 footcandles. More than Phalaenopsis light, and up to Cattleya light at the high end.

Water and fertilize copiously during active growth, as it grows very fast and needs lots of resources; don't let the potting mix dry out completely. Then when the leaves fall after blooming (it might bloom multiple times before this happens), stop watering until growth has resumed.

When repotting, which should be done every time it enters a dry rest, or just as it comes out of the dry rest and new roots are beginning, I suggest using a potting mix of either sphagnum moss or fine fir bark.

Humidity should be 50-70%.


These plants grow best with intermediate to warm temperatures, 70-80°F (21-27C) during the day and 10-15°F (6-8C) cooler at night.

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