Cymbidium rescue - questions on what to do

[Jo_Pyeweed]

Hi !

I need some advice and guidance to rescue some cymbidiums that I have in my garden. I moved to the house that I am now in about 3 months ago and found 6 pots underneath a tree. They were each filled with dry cymbidium bulbs. The house had been empty for a year before we moved in. I watered the pots every few days...to be honest I am not sure why since I really thought there was no hope. I haven't been working in my garden outside for over a month now, thanks to my new-found orchid hobby, but got a wonderful surprise when I went out today to finally catch up on gardening chores - new growths in all but one of the cymbidium pots !! The picture is of the pot that is most furthest along.

What would you advise I do next? The potting media has settled pretty far down in the pots and roots have wrappted themselves around and around the inner edges of the pots. These roots are dry and I don't think they are alive. Given the time of the year, is it too late to repot ? Should I just top dress the pots with new bark, let the shoots get further along and wait for a better time next year?

I haven't been fertilizing...should I start now with a high nitrogen fertilizer?

I am guessing that these are shoots from back bulbs. I know I won't get flowers for several years, but I really want to rescue these plants. A neighbor told me that the previous owner of my house was famous on the street for her cymbidiums

Thanks !

A very excited and happy,
Jo

P.S. - I just got back in from watering every single brown twig and bare patch that I could find in the garden....

[MariahK]

Wow that is amazing, and what a great surprise! I am not a cymbidium expert but there are others on here who are. I am sure they will be able to point you in the right direction

[snowballsarebad]

Wow lucky you! I also recently moved into a new place. I sure wish somebody had left some orchids behind!
I would offer some advice...but I don't grow cymbidiums. I want to though! I just need more room for them. I'm sure somebody will come along with some good advice for you. Though I think the one you show looks great, especially for having sat for a year. Good luck!

Edit: I didn't notice that you're pretty new here, at first. Welcome!

[fred]

I guess the first thing I would say is do you have Cym mix ?
Also do you have any sphagnum moss ?
the reason I ask is I think you will need to split the plant to focus on the new growths comming from the ps bulbs.

I can see with the pic that you have a possible 3 plants but you could also have back bulbs with new growth on them as well.

I would take the cym out of the pot and clean the bulbs with taking off all the dead growths you will need to take care doing this as some of the dead growths may have new growths forming that you can not see untill you start to clean the dead matter away.

with the two young growths on the left of your pic I would place them in spgamun moss
the growth on the right of your pic may be able to go into a bark mix it just depends on the roots if the roots are poor I would place that in sphag also.

[kmarch]

Well, to be sure, this is a good example of how tough and stubborn Cymbidiums are.

In this instance here's what I think I would do: clean as much of the "junk" (the pine needles and pine cones, etc) out of the top of the post as possible without unpotting or disturbing the roots and fill the pot to the proper level (just to the base of the pseudobulbs) with regular bark and leave it until next spring. This should give the new growths a chance to get as established as possible before it starts getting cool and their growth slows down for the winter. I'd be afraid a total repot at this point will give the new growths pause and I think it would be best to get them grown as far and as strong as you can before winter. Then, in the spring do a thorough repot, probably also splitting up the back bulbs into maybe 3 plants and repotting. Also consider removing the dead leaf stems that remain. I bet you'll find green bulbs under them and where there's green there's the ability of the plant to produce energy for itself. You may find you won't have to wait that long for flowers. This was obviously a flowering size plant at one time. 2 years ago I was given a cymbid in similar condition, slightly better as it had a couple of leafed bulbs, and I split it up and repotted it just as I've suggested you do and this year, 2 of my 3 divisions are in spike.

Fertilizing....not sure what to recommend about that since I rarely fertilize my Cymbidiums. Maybe someone will have more useful advice for you on that point.

[BIGALORCHIDMAN]

They require bright sunlight and very cool night temperatures. Along the california coast, where these requirements are easily satisfied, standard cymbidiums are considered low-maintenance outdoor plants. They need to be kept moist at all times, and are potted in plastic in mixes that retain large quantities of water while still allowing adequate aeration. In regions where the temperature does not fall below 26 degrees, cymbidiums may be grown out-of-doors. Large trees will furnish noon shade with a little sunlight filtering through.

[fred]

once you clean and split and repot this is what you may well end up with

[_cor]

Also, make sure that its not full of virus, esp if you intend to put it with your main collection.

[Jo_Pyeweed]

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the responses.

Cheers,
Jo

[Glitter]

How exciting to find those in your new home!