Not a very good picture, plant is now in my kitchen window. The spike is about 24" tall.

Once the plant is healthy, leave it alone.it will grow when it's ready.they are slow growers to what I have noticed.i have three plants, two alba and one original and the alba never stop blooming, but the other one is seems to stale a lot. I got the alba in February of this year and one of them as just started to send out a new growth it's now eight months.yet they Contin to bloom.LEAVE the spike, they take a while to produce one and they keep it for years. You have it in a clay pot but can you see any roots? It might be working on roots instead of foilage.also ensure it don't get bone dry they dont like it much for too long.i am not an expert with this variety but this has been my observation of them.Velleta

Plant is in a 2.5" black plastic pot. I wish it were a clear pot, but I'm also very reluctant to do a repot ;(

I sat it in the clay pot and filled with stones to make it stable. I was concerned the wind from fans or even the frogs in the GH could topple it.

I'll leave the spike...I love the flower. I have the Mendenhall cross, but it still has not spiked. It also has three good psbs and is working on a fourth. The leaves are not as long as these on this alba plant, but it seems like it's growing so sloooooowly!

I have a P. Mendenhall 'Hildos', a P. Butterfly [P.sanderae X P. papilio] X P. papilio hybrid.
I purchased it last fall.
It is an older plant with at least 5 or 6 PB's.
It had 1 spike in bloom.
After getting it home I found a second spike just beginning to grow.
Then, after a month or so, it began to grow another PB.
I have since mounted it in a tree in my yard.
[I live in Hawai'i].
Do NOT cut off the spike after the blossom drops.
It blooms with successive blossoms from all spikes.
I have 2 with blossoms on them right now and a third is beginning to grow from the new PB.
The spikes will branch with age and will continue to put out blossoms from the spikes and branches. An older plant with many spikes and branches is a thing of beauty.

This post was edited by solo_voyager on Thu, Oct 23, 14 at 2:06

My Phychopsis bloomed on the same spike for about three years. Only toward the end of that time did it make new growth.

Linda

Thanks for the replies. I will not concern myself with new growths; I'll just enjoy the blooms :)

Solo, your plant sounds wonderful! can you post a picture?

Another question, do you continue with weekly weakly fertilizing schedule? Many years ago I was told not to fertilize a budding/blooming plant.

Well let's look at the logic, it a plant that continues to bloom for years, one flower behind the other. This takes energy and energy comes from food so refusing to feed it would most definitely cause it to get stress and weak.i fertilise mine twice per month with clear rain water between and I am yet to see it sulk from being fed. I use 20-20-20.in a diluted mix.Velleta

I only have this photo right now.
{{gwi:197873}}
It was take right after mounting it in the tree.
The third spike had not been seen yet.
It is growing out directly away in the direction we are looking.

If you look closely in the crotch of the tree you can see the plant's foliage.
The mottled coloring of the leafs is characteristic of the P. Mendenhall hybrid

I had broken the spike on the left off.
It grew a branch from the last node and continued to bloom without batting an eye.
I put it up a few weeks before hurricane Iselle came to visit.
I don't think the Psychopsis even noticed, no damage to it whatsoever.
one of my other yard orchids had a spike broken off.

Since getting it , it has produced at least 5 or more successive flowers on each spike.
It still has two flowers on it.
But, they're not the same ones.
They're new flowers.

This one is located in a brightly lit location.
It is getting Cattleya light levels.
Once it is acclimated to it, the more light the better.
Usually mottled leaf coloring means low light levels are needed.
Not for this one.

I lived in Alaska before moving to Hawai'i.
I kept orchids there.
I always wanted a Psychopsis but was afraid to try keeping one.
Now, I'm convinced that they're very easy to grow.
I should have gotten one then.

I haven't had it long enough to verify this, but I would expect it to produce at least one new PB per year at the start of its growing season, as most orchids do.
More new ones could be possible as the number of PB's increase as happens with other orchids.

From my experience, the only time to stop feeding an orchid is if and when it goes into a dormant period, like the cool-dry-rest type Dendrobiums do.
Weakly, weekly should apply to this one also.
With that said, I don't worry about it.
Mine gets fed by its environment.
For one grown in a controlled environment, philpet's advice is correct.

This post was edited by solo_voyager on Fri, Oct 24, 14 at 4:30

Thanks Velleta. Common sense.....sometimes we seem to lack it or forget to pay attention to it!

Solo, that is awesome!!! The lower bloom appears to be reaching out and welcoming the bright light! Thanks for posting the photo.

Sheila

Quote:
"... The lower blossom appears to be reaching out and welcoming the bright light! ..."

Before finally mounting it in the tree, I had moved it around from to place to place changing its orientation to the sun almost constantly.
I was keeping it outside.
The LH blossom was still a bud when I decided to try seeing how it would fare in one of the trees.
I think the constant moving around left the bud confused so that it opened up facing upwards.
The new blossoms, now on the plant, are oriented as they should be.

This post was edited by solo_voyager on Fri, Oct 24, 14 at 14:33