Kim, I don't grow mackayi, so I don't have any direct experience with it. But, speaking on a general basis, this is not normal. I have seen this kind of excessive sprouting in cattleyas and every time it happens the plant has some sort of disease and is trying to survive. I've been struggling with a Cattleya warscewiczii that was a healthy mature plant four years ago. It started sprouting as madly as a weed and each new growth smaller than the preceding. I spoke to some experienced friends that told me that the plant had been infected by some pathogenic fungus of the genus Fusarium (extremely hard to eliminate). The plant went as small as one inch and it took me four!! years before I kill that plague. Now, after all those years it is back to the normal growing pattern. Now, the interesting is that the pseudo bulbs and leaves didn't show any signs of any infestation. This crazy fungus attacks the rhizome and slowly kills the plant there. The plant reacts by putting out new growths on a disoriented way. The rhizome gets clear brown, more chestnut I'd say, very dry and hard.
I'm not saying that your Zygo has such a terrible disease, but a careful look wouldn’t do any bad.
__________________
Mauro
|