Growth Cycles, Discussion/Comments

[zxyqu]

Hey OB, so Johnblagg brought this up in the Catt Alliance section, and I'm attempting to repost it here, so it gets more traffic. He was wondering, as was I, if we could start a thread/section on the growth cycles of various orchids, from alliances to cultivars. Now granted a low of this will vary from lighting, location, temp, humidity, and I could go on, but I was hoping for some thoguhts on the subject, even if we have to break it down a little by some of the factors above. I for one, who am relatively new, and wondering what I should look for, and when, and to see if that fits with what I've been seeing. Hopefully this makes some sense, but would love some thoughts on it from the experts out there.

[Ray]

I have some thoughts on this:

1. The statistical distribution of growth cycles will be tightest in species (if grown identically), but the more complex the hybrid, the broader will be the distribution.
2. Plants are individuals, too. In a population of "X" number of the same plant, all grown together, you will see variations in growth cycles.
3. You're right that culture will play a huge role in defining a cycle. If you and I grew the same plant under identical conditions, except mine was in lower light than yours, you might see a couple of bloom periods - let's call that the end of a cycle - a year, while I might only see one.