Zygo Culture Guidelines - Anything to add ?

[zxyqu]

I'll add that they do very well once established in S/H. I only have 4 or 5, and I've never given them a sort of winter rest. Any comments on why you'd recommend that? Just wondering.
Everything else seems reasonable to me. I keep mine a bit cooler than the Oncs but in the same light. good suggestions though

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

2.) Give it a drier winter. Still give it water, but much less. Once a week or once every 2 weeks is good enough. It doesn't need any more water than this during the winter.

Originally Posted by zxyqu

I only have 4 or 5, and I've never given them a sort of winter rest. Any comments on why you'd recommend that?

I'll answer that...

It's not a true winter rest like those you provide for certain Dendrobiums. It is a "light dormancy". They do not go fully dormant at any given time of the year. They have a tendency to grow a bit slower during the cooler months than they do during the warmer months, but they usually don't stop growing.

They experience unusual seasonal rain patterns that I cannot adequately describe into words to you guys.

They naturally grow in areas that are occasionally wet one season (fall and winter), and wetter for another season (spring and summer) in the wild.

Complete dry periods are not what I'm talking about.

Most people don't observe this in cultivation, hence the pronounced problems with fungal infections and rot (usually experienced during the fall/winter season - the "drier" season).

You guys will have far fewer problems if the watering during the falls and winters are reduced, NOT eliminated.

For example...

A Zygopetalinae species a lot of people have problems growing is Acacallis cyanea.

Well guess what...

It follows similar rain patterns that I describe. It should be grown moist during fall and winter (the "drier" season). And it should be grown using methods such as deep water culture, aeroponics, or bubbleponics, during the spring and summer (the wet or flood season), when this species is frequently seen growing on trees partially submerged just below the flood line of the Amazon river basin in the wild.

Do keep in mind I'm using Acacallis cyanea as an example, because it is one of the most problematic Zygopetalinae species to grow in cultivation and because it is an extreme case amongst the Zygopetalinae.

Most Zygopetalinae don't grow in such extreme conditions as Acacallis cyanea, but the rain patterns are very similar - occasionally wet during the drier season; frequently wet the rainy or flood season.

If the research is done on the rainfall patterns and the degree of rainfall that occurs annually of where these guys grow in the wild, you'll get what's happening and what I'm trying to describe.