Questions about Cymbidium growth habits

[jsehorn]

Due to the climate in Oklahoma City, I have rarely experiment with Cymbidiums. Last summer I purchased 3 heat tolerant Cymbidium seedlings from Odom's.

When I got them, they were in 3 inch pots and they were pushing themselves straight up out of the pots, so I immediately repotted into 6 inch pots. They all have multiple new growths developing (4 or 5 new growths on each of them, which surprised me considering how young they are), and there's plenty of room around the edge of the pots to accommodate the new growths, and the root systems are very healthy. The root systems are so healthy that the sides of the pots are starting to bulge out in places from root growth. I've heard it said that Cyms like to be a little tight in their pots, but I wouldn't be surprised if the pots start to crack if the roots keep growing at this rate. Should I just let them go, or should they be dropped into bigger pots?

My other question is in regard to the growth rate of Cymbidiums. Are they typically slow growing by nature? The new growths are certainly progressing well, but at a much slower rate than other orchids I grow. I don't mind waiting, but I want to make sure I'm not doing anything wrong.

They get several hours a day of direct sun, and the leaves are a good grass-green color with no indication of sunburn, so I feel like they are getting the right amount of light. I water and fertilize frequently (I fertilize all year, although I use a more dilute solution of fertilizer than I use in the summer). I grow them alongside my Catts, so the night temperatures are in the high 60s at night, and mid-70s during the day. I've had them more than six months, and the new growths are still six inches tall or less, although I have some immature growths that are even starting new growths of their own!

Is this slow rate of growth typical for Cymbidiums, or do I need to reevaluate my cultural practices and make adjustments? I don't mind that they're growing slowly if that's what they're supposed to do, but I want to make sure I'm doing everything right. Any thoughts?

Oh, as a side note, these aren't exactly "miniatures". They may be a bit smaller than the standard large-flowered hybrids, but the mature growths stand about two feet high.

[Rema]

I'll be checking for the answers on this one. I have mostly the same doubts you do, however I'm sure my new cym is heat tolerant beucause I can see the place where the old flower stems were. I got it about a month ago and it hasnt done anything yet.

[jsehorn]

Mine are still too young to bloom, which excites me because they are seedlings from new crosses, so it will be interesting to see how the blooms turn out. All of mine have new growths started, and they are growing, but they sure are moving slow. If slow growth is typical of Cymbidiums, I'm sure it will be worth the wait, but I just want to make sure I'm not doing something wrong.

[PaulB]

Jeff-
From what you've written, it looks like you are doing everything right. Based on my own experience, though, I would have put them in larger pots. Maybe an 8 inch pot. You shouldn't have to repot for at least two seasons. They like to send out a lot of roots when conditions are right.
My question is, how fast do you want them to grow??

[jsehorn]

I thought I had given them enough room for a couple years' growth, but if the roots keep going crazy the way they are, I'll go ahead and drop them into bigger pots. Maybe I'll post some pictures later so you can take a look.

As long as I'm doing everything right, I don't care how fast they grow. I just want them to be happy and healthy.

[jsehorn]

Okay, here's some pictures. Do you really think those pots are too small? I wouldn't have thought so, but like I said, the roots are starting to bulge out the side a little haha.

[PaulB]

Certainly sounds like they are happy and healthy. Right now is when a lot of varieties pump out new growth and spikes. Mine are having a party as I write.

I tend to put them into larger pots just because repotting and splitting is an all day or all weekend job and I have better things to do.

By the way, what is the medium you are using??

[jsehorn]

I'm growing them in the Cymbidium mix from repotme, which is medium redwood bark, small orchiata bark, small tree fern fiber, coarse coir, small stalite, and rice hulls.

[PaulB]

Dang! I didn't notice the pics you posted.Sorry about that! They look great! Looks like there's plenty of growing room at the sides. Are you using packing popcorn or any type of "filler" between the roots?

[jsehorn]

I threw in a few packing peanuts into the bottom of the pots, but not much. Should I have used more?

[PaulB]

As a rule (my rule), I put them in the black nursery pots, which are usually deeper (about 7 inches). Since the roots like to go down rather than to the sides. These pots generally are not real wide, but then I only get one to three new growths. By that time, I'm most likely going to repot or in some cases, split the plant. I've let some of my cyms keep going and are in larger, 2 and 5 gallon nursery pots. Ya get a lot of showy spikes that way, but kind of a pain to move around when sunny areas get too hot.
On the packing popcorn, I usually put just a few at the bottom to help close up the large drainage holes and a few strategically placed ones up closer to the plant to help keep the roots separated and growing away from each other.

Just my way of doing it.

[jsehorn]

Yeah, I potted mine in the same shorty pots I used for my other plants, but they certainly are proving to have extensive root systems, so next time I repot, I'll use deeper pots. They're doing so well that I'll just go ahead and leave them be for the time being until the plants run out of room for new growth, or they start to push themselves up out of their pots, whichever comes first.

I tried my hand at Cymbidiums when I lived in Portland, OR since they are so abundant there in the winter and early spring, but I lived there for less than two years, so I didn't have time to quite get the hang of it, and when I moved back to OKC, I gave my Cyms away to friends, because I knew Oklahoma would definitely be too hot for them (I moved back here in July, and at the time we had had 56 straight days over 100 degrees, with quite a few days over 110), so I'm still new to Cymbidiums.

I hope these plants from Odom's are as heat tolerant as they promise to be, but I figure if they bloom in Florida, they should do okay here. Time will tell.

Thanks so much Paul for all your advice. You have been most helpful!

[PaulB]

Thanks! Glad to be of help.
I know just about everyone has different growing conditions and they have to deal with those conditions for their own growing of orchids, but I've never had any problems with the high temperatures with any of my cymbidiums. During the summer here in So. Cal, the temps go into the triple digits during summer, so I move them to shadier spots, so they get good morning sun, then bright shade when it gets real hot.
How hot does it get in Oklahoma City??

[jsehorn]

We're in the high 90s by the end of may, and up to 120 in July and August, with night time lows in the high 90s, and it doesn't start to cool off until November. I've tried standard Cyms in Oklahoma, but it stays too hot too late into the fall, and I've never gotten one to spike here.

I don't want to have to fuss over a plant fighting the natural conditions here. I'm willing to make minor adjustments, but if a plant doesn't want to bloom here, I'm not going to go terribly out of my way to try to make it bloom. I've got plenty of orchids that do great in the conditions I am able to provide, so I don't feel a hugh loss not being able to grow Cymbidiums, but it certainly would be nice if some of the new heat tolerant hybrids would work out for me.

[grandmapenguin]

jsehorn, I enjoyed reading your post and also your media suggestion from repotme.com. I do buy from them so will put this on my list for next purchase.
I have a Cymbidium this is it's fourth year with me. Last year I had the most fantastic spray and this year I have two Spikes off of one pseudobulb.
I make sure I let the plant stay outdoors here in Indiana for at least one good cold hit, even a frost. I believe this is what is helping my plant Spike and flower. i will try to find my last photos of the Cymbidium in bloom

[jsehorn]

Those flowers are beautiful! One of the problems that I have noticed in Oklahoma is that we rarely have what people would consider a fall. We go straight from 100s to freezing with very little fall-like weather between. Without that nice fall weather, I have found that Cymbidiums don't like to spike.

Again, I haven't tried many Cyms in Oklahoma, and maybe there are people here who are successful with them, but I sure haven't figured it out. Like I said, I'm not one to fuss over a plant, so if it's not willing to be happy with what I give it, I'm ready to move on to something that will be.

My plants I have from Odom's are probably still a couple years from blooming, but they're growing great, so I'm going to stick with them and hope for the best. Experimenting can be frustrating, but it's also a lot of fun, especially if the experiment turns out well!

Oh, and the repotme Cymbidium medium is the only one I have ever used, so I can't really compare it to other media, but I can tell you that in the repotme mix, the roots grow LIKE CRAZY. Like I said, even with plenty of room for new growth in the pots, the roots are already starting to cause the pots to bulge out in places, and I only repotted them in August or September. They must really like it.

[PaulB]

Thanks for the info. Dang! I've been growing these things since the early 80's and I never knew there were "heat tolerant" ones.

On the mix: I just make up a mix of coarse fir bark, coarse Perlite, and coarse charcoal. But I just split and repotted some in mid October, (which I usually do in early June) using my regular mix, but also potted some in coarse coco chips with the perlite and charcoal. As late in the season as it was, every one of them is spiking and some are pushing out new growths as well. I was almost sure I wouldn't see anything til late in 2012.

Kinda fun, bending my own rules...

[jsehorn]

Paul, from what I understand, about 20 years or so ago, people from Everglades Orchids embarked on an endeavor to breed some of the large flowered standard Cymbidiums with some of the lowland species such as ensifolium to produce plants with the beloved large showy flowers that would still bloom well in more tropical climates.

Here's a link to an article with some of the details:
GROWING THE NEW