Cycnoches Question

[solay]

Jay, anyone? I need help. I read and was told that more than 3 bulbs was not good since it won't support the 4th bulb.?!

I noticed the smallest bulb on the Cycnoches were turning slight yellow in color and a little soft compared to the other bulbs. So I took one off from one of the 2 Cycnoches I have and potted it up.

Now the question is was that the right thing to do and do I water it or not. It has some roots but no growth. Should I remove the other yellowish bulb from the other plant too or is this not the right time to do this? Thanks.

[arleneg]

I would've let that small one go or waited until Nov or Dec (when they're dormant) to separate any of the bulbs. At this point, I really don't know what to advise you. Maybe another member who has done the division this early would know.

Or...experiment with it.

[kmarch]

Originally Posted by solay

I read and was told that more than 3 bulbs was not good since it won't support the 4th bulb.?!

Not true. What is true is that cycnoces and their relatives (catasetum clowesia, mormodes, etc) will often loose back bulbs, as they serve out their usefulness and die back leaving only 3-5-7 fresh bulbs. They dont' die off because the plant can't support them they die off because they've been used up and are no longer of any use, kind of like when the space shuttle jettisons its used up fuel tanks during lift off.

Unlike other orchids wiht pseudobulbs members of this family can be divided up into single bulb divisions and in fact many commercial growers do this because then they have more plants to sell. This family of orchids however do benefit from being allowed to "grow on" without repeated division. Unlike a big Cattleya that can have hundreds of pseudobulbs these orchids won't get that big. I think the biggest one I've ever seen was about 5 big bulbs.

Originally Posted by solay

I noticed the smallest bulb on the Cycnoches were turning slight yellow in color and a little soft compared to the other bulbs. So I took one off from one of the 2 Cycnoches I have and potted it up.

Now the question is was that the right thing to do and do I water it or not. It has some roots but no growth. Should I remove the other yellowish bulb from the other plant too or is this not the right time to do this? Thanks.

I certainly don't think you've done any harm to your orchid so you can breathe easy there. If the back bulb was yellowing it was probably nearing the end of its usefulness and was dieing off. I would leave everything as it is now and see what happens. See if the yellowing bulbs sprout new growth or just finish dieing off.

[jerrymeola]

I have raise various types for three years and never have been able to get a third bulb to live.

Since this is a natural progression in the life of the plant it does run the risk of rotting and killing the plant.

The oldest backbulb just shrivels up and eventually disappears. Some have turned papery empty and come right off. Others shrivel to a tenth of their original size and come off with the slightest pressure,

You can divide the plant after they flower and begin dormancy, and you can leave them until they die of their own. It makes growing them easy.

[jay]

When I was visiting Fred, he said basically the same thing. He said that species especially don't keep very many bulbs. Some of the complex hybrids are starting to keep larger number of bulbs.

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

My experience is the same as Jerry's, 2 bulbs max alive at any one time.

[solay]

Thanks everyone for your input. I will leave the second plant alone then and see how the small bulb I removed does. So far the plants look pretty healthy and I don't want to do anything to stop it from blooming in the fall.