I got in a little late on these orchids. Some people have a knack..they get these giant pot filling clumps..while mine sort of grows,then dies back a little. Not the right mix of something.

What do you have it planted in? They like fast drainage.

Potting soils with lots of perlite. They do ok..but not like the ones I post- not even faintly like those barrel fillers. If I went by my own? I would think its too cold or wet in the bay area,yet I see many huge ones. The reality is- they thrive. I might try a different pot or more perlite then I mixed in last time.

The next question is do you have a E. radicans or one of the smaller hybrids? The hybrids are a lot more fussy about their roots and don't grow anywhere near as big.

I moved it from part shade to take this photo. When I go for full sun? It seems to die back in summer. This plant is a 4 years old red radicans and was one single stem "on sale cheap" marked down. Others like a purple I had cats killed. For the amount of green you see? It seemed heavy after all these rains to lift. I've seen around town 2 or 3' tall in pots this size!

I use scoria and coconut husk chunks. They like to remain moist but not wet during the summer and it needs to not get sopping wet in the cold rain. I use scoria instead of perlite because with the tall ones you need the ballast to keep them from being knocked over.

I think people are successful because of benign neglect a lot of times. A big block of dry peat that gets watered once a week will soak up enough water to support growth and not get waterlogged. I had one in gritty that was 7' tall but it was overwatered and the roots only went down 6".

At my last house, someone had wired a piece into the low crotch of a pine that got hit by a sprinkler. That one bloomed whenever it was warm. Another big clump was planted in decorative concrete block, open to the ground so that it managed to be both root bound and well drained. It did even better than the tree orchid.

Thanks Josue. It looks lush because of the part shade. Now the ones I see around town are in full sun and still blooming right now. I can try sun again..but last time it had a few leaves blanch. Not a good look.

You have to ease them into full sun or they get sun scald.

Now that I see a healthy Reed Orchid can bloom all year..I want THAT!

Well I don't know about all year. There are a couple months in winter that are light on blooms. You might have a couple old hangers on though.

I should also mention that all the hybrids and rarer species that I have gotten from nurseries have been potted in pretty coarse scoria. They must water the heck out of them.