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Cymbidiums Orchid Care and Watering

7 years ago

Hi there, I recently got bought 2 Cymbidiums, the label says that they are 5 years old and to water them from underneath 1 x 5-7 days for 10 mins.

Is it safe to water them from above too? Reason for asking if I want to make sure that the plants due absorb water and they don't die.

Are they easy to care for?

Any advice on general and advanced care would be great.

Featured Answer

arthurm2015

7 years ago

last modified: 7 years ago

The growers who will give you the most help live in the north of the USA and maybe the Royal Horticultural Society can provide culture notes for your orchids? Any idea re. temperatures and humidity where the orchids are growing? Are the orchids under lights?

It is not only the temperatures, you have to cope with the massive change in day length between summer and winter. So maybe you can put the Cymbidium outside in Summer. Cymbidiums are temperature tolerant down to about 2C.

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Comments (8)

arthurm2015
7 years ago
Care depends on where you are in the world!
arthurm2015
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Here is set of culture notes written for NSW. Australia (Southern Hemisphere so seasons are in different months to the Northern Hemisphere).

Cymbidium notes written for SE Australia
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Pull the bulb up out of the potting media, only have the lower 3rd of the base covered with media, at the most. You'll rot it out if you bury it lower just to keep it sitting upright. If it won't sit up in the pot on it's own, you haven't packed the media around the roots tightly enough. Cyms like lots of water spring through fall, so don't be afraid to keep it a little wetter than other orchids if it's hot out. Keep it drier until it sprouts a new bulb and begins to form new roots, then you can increase watering slowly. Increase your light slowly if it's hot out, it can take much higher light levels once established well. Good luck with it!
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I think you have misunderstood the notes. Forget about the Phals. Good Cymbidium culture is death to them. Cymbidium will take Winter Night Temps down to about 2C. That is why they are garden plants all year here and sure they need a slight cooling off in Autumn/Winter to flower but many need Summer night temps below about 20C to flower......and there is a nice cold Ocean current flowing along the west coast of the USA to deliver those cool night temps in summer. Maybe it is too late in the year to repot your Cym, you need local advice on that. The Cymbidium experts (I'm not one) repot often and the sequence is a slightly larger pot each time. Too big a pot jump will cause root rot.
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Jon, they have flowers now. Not much, some pots give 2 stems the best one gives 5 stems. The leaves seem to have little brown spots. I know a few problems but not sure how to fix up. - I did not use proper potting mix two years ago. It was franklin's pine bark with garden soil the last time I repot. Not great isn't it? - The location is under a Magnolia tree. Ok, but not great. Not enough Sun for Autumn and Winter. - I use slow release osmocott pellets rather than watering them with weak fertiliser solution. I am not a nut on Orchids, therefore I only want to get resonable results in a lazy way. My brother set up shade cloth to house his orchids under nearly full Sun. His orchids have much better leaves. Now they have a lot of flowers, between 3 - 7 stems on each pot. he uses commercial potting mix for orchids. But like me, he never really fertilise them on a consistent basis. What should I do? If I carefully repot them now with commercial mix, would the repotting stop them from flowering next year? Perhaps I can gently repot them into bigger pots without removing the bad old mix? Also there are some kind of bugs that bore a hole into the flower and eat the inside causing them to fall. What can I do? I suppose this cann't be snails. Will an insecticide product suitable for the garden in general work? I worry that the little white oil content in pest oil may hurt the orchids. Anyway, I just want reasonable orchids, not too fussy about them.
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Yes, mine already bloomed. They start opening about late January for me and go through early to mid March or so. You might still luck out if you keep an eye out at grocery stores and especially Krogers. I've seen quite a few at reasonable prices, even some minis (dwarfs) pop up and sometimes obviously out of the usual season for blooming. Otherwise mail order is your best bet though likely you will have to wait until next winter to see blooms. There are a few orchid greenhouses in and around Atlanta you should check but I have no idea if any of them grow cymbidiums. Be nice if they did because zone 8 or warmer you can grow them outside in sheltered locations. Especially along walls that get sunny in winter. Mine however are potted and are indoors only in winter, along with the rest of my orchids (mostly catleya).
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jck3010
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you for the information, I am in Scotland in the UK so the weather will be a lot cooler than where you are.
jck3010
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you I will try and find some more information from them.
Danielle Rose
7 years ago
Water them from above. I've never heard of watering an orchid from below, no matter WHERE you live in the world. Pour water into the pot until it flows out the bottom. I don't know who is complicating things unnecessarily for you, but "water from underneath for 10 minutes" is ridiculous.

Perhaps they mean "submerse pot in water for 10 minutes every 5-7 days." That is good advice for your part of the world.
Darlene (GreenCurls)
7 years ago
I follow the instructions from Orchidweb, a grower in Minnesota, USA. There temperatures are colder then mind, but easy to adjust.

Cymbidium care from orchidweb

The suggestion to water from the bottom is usually to reduce the likelihood of get water between the leaves and having fungal or bacterial issues. However water from the bottom is not needed. As Dannie mentioned, water from the top until the water run out the bottom of the pot. That's what I do. Watering from the top is better for the long term health of your orchid. Watering earlier in the day and maintaining good air circulation will take care of the fungal and bacterial risks.
jck3010
Original Author
7 years ago
Thank you Danni317, yes it meant submerse in a pot of water. It was hard to tell if the water had been absorbed as the pot is black. The phals I have are in clear pots and I put holes up the sides too, so you can see clearly if the medium is wet.

Thank you Darlene for the information it helps a lot and the temperatures mentioned should be okay where I live during May to October. I just need to find a spot in the garden to disfuse the sun. I have them indoors on a south facing window just now so they should be getting plenty of light hopefully.

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