Love them! What are your conditions? You state "one new growth", Bulb or leaf? Doubling in size, Leaf size or doubling PB's? Doubling PB's in a year is probably not a realistic expectation.

It is a deciduous lycaste, meaning they lose their leaves in winter. The small shriveled bulbs are the back bulbs. They get uglier with time. That is normal. Think of it as the fuel for the process. One of the larger bulbs may shrivel a bit too after flower production. That is normal.

They are not low light plants. Trick to them is at least catt light, more light is better. Thier average year round- 70's day (even high 60's in winter). They like it cool at night mid 50's. I can accomplish that in my zone for a good part of the year, indoors.

They really need a significant evening temp drop for bloom production. Mine are placed at a drafty or open window. I have 2 outdoors currently. We are experiencing a cool summer here.

Winters (when they lose their leaves) they require a strict rest until you see new growth. (months). Its very hard to refrain from watering. Don't feel like you are torturing it. I keep them in the highest light I have to offer in winter, maintain the day heat & literally forget about them! Baby sips of water approximately once a month. No fert. If you see the PB's significantly shriveling then a little sip of water. Otherwise, dry as a bone. Higher humidity helps. When new growth begins, slowly increase water and start light fertilizer solution. They enjoy a good drenching when you water in summer.

Had mine in bark mix but recently repotted some and went s/h style. A mix of lava rock, tree fern and pumice. Both work for this type of Lycaste.

I find they do need a rapid wet/dry cycle. Its quite easy to rot the roots & bulbs thinking they need to be soaking wet all the time... Misting is not recommended as they are thin leaved and water collects in between the PB's. High risk of rot.

They can bloom sans leaves as I discovered this spring. They can put on a big long lasting show and they smell delicious! After my little Cruenta did the big bloom, he gave me one extra flower for the heck of it. Nice fellow!

Clara

Thx for the very explicit tips! That's what I like! The new growth is a stalk of leaves that I know will produce a new psb later. Will the plant produce another growth before Fall or will it be just this one?

Sheila :)

Your welcome! :-) Without knowing your present conditions, I would guess that conditions are not optimised yet. New leaf growth starts in the spring and should continue into the summer. I have another new leaf on the cruenta that started about 2 or 3 weeks ago and yet another beginning on a Locusta. Light makes all the difference. I suspect that temp has a lot to do with it too.

These plants are a little different. They don't need "volume" leaf sets, that is dependant on bulb size. More is always a sign that your conditions are right. My sweet little cruenta had 1 leaf set and threw about 13 flowers.

The nice thing about Lycaste is that they have monsterously large leaves and tend to take up a lot of space. They are very fragile and end up bending, spotting, ripping. Just when they begin to look really ratty, they dissapear for about 5 or 6 months!

I was thinking of mounting it upside down to see if I can minimze the bending/ripping. Realistically, that would be a lot of work to properly maintain so maybe I'll try it next year with my baby plant. Staking has not really been a good solution, so I let it go as is. No matter how bad they look, leave them attached to the plant. You'll find it will be worth it!

I hope you enjoy the flowers as much as I have. They have been my favourite so far this year. The big waxy blooms make excellent cut flowers :-) Photo below of my Cruenta when he was just beginning his new leaf growth

Clara
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He is indeed a beauty! I see other buds too. Good growing. My plant only had two buds this spring and some critter got them while I was out of town for a week. :(
I'm hoping for better luck next spring.

Sheila :)

hmm...if I'm in zone 8a and I snuggle up the Lycaste right up by the window in the evenings in winter, is there a chance it'll get the cool temperatures needed for blooming?