The Orchid Garden

So glad I found you! Need help repotting cymbidiums

Question:

There are a number of good resources for repotting cymbidiums. Most commercial sites have a Cymbidium culture sheet available.

I’m not familiar with any commercial sites. Should I just sign on to ‘google’ and type in cymbidium?

Response:

also, lives in your area. Jim, you could probably help out. Diane

Response:

Hi, Inheriting your grandfather’s cymbidiums and caring for them can be a daunting task.  But you are in luck since you live in the East Bay area.  There is a cymbidium club that meets monthly (4th Weds. at 7:30pm) at the Lake Merritt Garden Center.   Or, since I live down the road from you in San Jose, if you’d like, maybe we could get together for a repotting session some afternoon.  If you would like to do the latter, send me an e-mail directly to arrange a date/time.  Be sure to include cym or repot on the subject line or I might delete it without opening it.  

Response:

Well hello Jim, So glad you to see you back here! It has been a long time & you probably don’t even remember me. My first question ever was to you. I wish you would stay. Ladies & Gentlemen, Jim is the very "best" when it comes to info on cymbidiums! I call him Mr.CymJim! Cheers Wendy – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Hi, Inheriting your grandfather’s cymbidiums and caring for them can be a daunting task.  But you are in luck since you live in the East Bay area.  There is a cymbidium club that meets monthly (4th Weds. at 7:30pm) at the Lake Merritt Garden Center.   Or, since I live down the road from you in San Jose, if you’d like, maybe we could get together for a repotting session some afternoon.  If you would like to do the latter, send me an e-mail directly to arrange a date/time.  Be sure to include cym or repot on the subject line or I might delete it without opening it.  

Response:

I inhertied my grandfather’s cymbidiums many years ago and have not killed them by regular feeding, irregular watering, and mostly neglect. They are in an alcove (East San Francisco Bay Area) that gets filtered light and doesn’t freeze. They need repotting, I think, because water runs over them and off the top rather than into the roots. They are very crowded and there are some dead bulbs. A friend just recently repotted his collection and killed all but two. I would prefer to prevent this and do it right the first time. Do I use soil, bark, a combo of the two, clay pots, plastic pots (they are in plastic), water, feed, don’t water, don’t feed? Do I repot now or wait? How many bulbs to a pot? You know the routine and I am grateful in adnvance for your advise. P

Response:

P, You can divide and repot them now but if they want to flower you will mess up thier flowering quality.  You might end up with smaller flowers and they might not open properly.  They will also not last near as long as they would normally.  It also might not be a good idea to repot this time of year because they might not get established enough before the cold weather arrives.  They will handle the cold much better when they are established. The best time to repot them is in Spring until the end of July.  You can even repot as early as March if your plant is not going to flower or if it has finished flowering.  For more on cymbidiums and repotting, go to www.cymbidium.org and you might even check out the recent discussions about cymbidiums in a similar format to this newsgroup. Matthew Swift Swift’s Orchids 6658 Carnelian St. Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91701 Phone/Fax 909-483-5590 http://www.swiftsorchids.com

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – I inhertied my grandfather’s cymbidiums many years ago and have not killed them by regular feeding, irregular watering, and mostly neglect. They are in an alcove (East San Francisco Bay Area) that gets filtered light and doesn’t freeze. They need repotting, I think, because water runs over them and off the top rather than into the roots. They are very crowded and there are some dead bulbs. A friend just recently repotted his collection and killed all but two. I would prefer to prevent this and do it right the first time. Do I use soil, bark, a combo of the two, clay pots, plastic pots (they are in plastic), water, feed, don’t water, don’t feed? Do I repot now or wait? How many bulbs to a pot? You know the routine and I am grateful in adnvance for your advise. P

Response:

Thank you! I do want to keep these orchids going for sentimental reasons.

Response:

I inhertied my grandfather’s cymbidiums many years ago and have not killed them by regular feeding, irregular watering, and mostly neglect. They are in an alcove (East San Francisco Bay Area) that gets filtered light and doesn’t freeze. They need repotting, I think, because water runs over them and off the top rather than into the roots. They are very crowded and there are some dead bulbs. A friend just recently repotted his collection and killed all but two. I would prefer to prevent this and do it right the first time. Do I use soil, bark, a combo of the two, clay pots, plastic pots (they are in plastic), water, feed, don’t water, don’t feed? Do I repot now or wait? How many bulbs to a pot?

There are a number of good resources for repotting cymbidiums. Most commercial sites have a Cymbidium culture sheet available. http://www.cymbidium.org/ has a decent one linked right from their front page. Other good ones include: http://www.rodmclellan.com/html/orchids.html http://www.orchidweb.org/ I’d guess you’re probably past the prime repotting months. When I did mine back in June, I recall reading that you could go "as late as" that month. Unless they are really sickly, they’ll probably make it through another winter.  If they bloom, do it after they finish, otherwise put it on your calendar for March, 2002. Crowded isn’t necessarily bad, and they can handle a lot of crowding – check out my cymbidium project at http://home.earthlink.net/~jmedgar3/OrchidCymb.html Those plants hadn’t bloomed since winter ‘97/98, and didn’t really get regular feeding or good sunlight.  They had been on the north side of a house, getting a bit of summer late afternoon sun.   I haven’t updated the current condition of the plants, but most are much happier. I’d say you should scout out an area that gets good morning sun, if possible, and tuck ‘em back under something so they don’t get cooked in the afternoon. My happiest ones get sun from daybreak until about 12:30 during the summer. Don’t use soil. At least not potting soil. There are some cymbidium mixes I’ve seen, but my most robust one has taken off this year after being repotted to fine fir bark, after languishing in some cymbidium mix for a year or so. Do use fine fir bark.  I got a few bags down at OSH that were organic, and mixed in about 10% Vermiculite – only because I had a bunch of it – I would’ve used Perlite, but wanted to get rid of what I had.  It’ll probably be a fatal error…. ;^) The "dead bulbs" probably aren’t, unless they are squishy.  They are dormant "back bulbs" and can be resusitated. I was trying to keep a minimum of three bulbs together, though the compressed conditions from which they came often necessitated a few more. Hope some of this helps. — Jim

Response:

Filed under: Cymbidium Orchids

Related Posts