Question about Cyms

[orchid_girl]

I would love to buy a cym or two.....but I am wondering would I be able to give it the right kind of culture that it needs? I think they are absolutely gorgeous and I would love to try my hand at one.

[Hummer344]

Cyms can take quite a bit of morning sun and lots of light the rest of the day. During the winter, mine get sun to about noon. Right now they get direct sun until 0930-1000. They stay outside year around getting protected when temps are expected to be below 35. They need to have a good bit of cool night weather in the fall for them to blossom. I am feeding mine growth stuff for a couple of months(every 2 weeks) but a balanced fert the rest of the year. I don't fool with bloom stuff.
Hope thats helpfull

[PhalPal]

Cyms do not like humidity. Hopefully one of our Florida growers will chime in here and explain their difficulties with growing Cyms in the south.

[kmarch]

I believe the difficulty with growing Cymbidiums in Florida has to do with the lack of a cool autumn needed to initiate flowering rather than too much humidity. Here in Australia our humidity is all over the place, summers hot and dry (8% humidity), winters cool and wet (60+% humidity). Our humidity doesn't seem to bother them.

[solay]

I say, go for it. They aren't all that expensive and they are very hardy orchids. I think it might work out. There are some that are warm blooming ones or does not need a chill first to bloom. At least that's what I've heard. You might want to look around and see if you can find some.

[PhalPal]

I am aware of fungal problems on Cyms with high humidity, which in the south can easily run 90% 24/7.

[brookn]

Well, our conditions are close orchidgirl, so we'll see. I know a grower here that grows tons of them with no problems. I just started buying them, so maybe I can let you know if mine survive the brutal summer here. I am acclimating mine so as not to burn them outside (two I just recieved, and one just finished blooming), and I threw them out in the rain today then brought them inside and popped them in front of the fan. Our humidity is all over the place here, mostly pretty high.

[Anton]

I was given a little tip from an old cym grower at our club, he had developed it from necessity due to our hot summer nights.

You water them at night during summer with cooled water around 50F to 55F (10 -12C) and this mimics the cool drops in temperatures which would occur elsewhere outside of our state.

He said it also helps promote spiking towards the end of summer / early Fall. I personally haven't tried it as I only heard about it once our heatwave had disappeared, so intend on trying it next season if we have hot nights.

[articuno75]

As soon as we started having 40 degree nights I kicked my plants outside in shaded area to get them acclimated. We can get pretty humid here, especially now in Spring. I'll have to see how summer goes as well.

[brookn]

Thanks for the tip Anton. Kevin recommended misting them well during the day, when we get to the really hot part of the year. This was in another thread, but I certainly am keeping it all in mind, as we are ramping up for a really hot season. I think I will give them a mist in the am and a hose in the pm. My son is going on misting duty lol.

Jenny I was going to kick mine out sooner, but I decided against it cause it still had blooms left. I am glad I waited or it would have been out when the tornado came through eek!

[orchid_girl]

I was wondering because we do have extreme humidity especially during the summer months. The winters are wet too but not as humid as the summer. Most of the time with my other tropicals I have to mist them in the winter because it gets too dry inside the house.

Thanks brookn, please do keep me updated because I want one but I want it to survive

Thanks Anton, I'll keep it in mind should I get one, or two.......

Ok another question, cyms are basically grown outdoors? All of my orchids that I do have stay inside. Would I have to keep it outside or could I keep it indoors along with the rest?

[brookn]

Cyms don't do especially well inside year round, and they really are large outdoor type plants.