repotting cymbidium mix proportion

[rcheng]

Hi,
I read from pocket orchid guide for cymbidium, medium mix consists of bark, perlite, peat moss. i have a cymbidium which was given to me as a lunar new year gift. i like to re-pot it because the plastic bag which hold the medium with the orchid is fast giving way.

The question is what is the proportion for each of these material to give a good medium mix for cymbidium.

Appreciate advice.

Regards
Richard Cheng

[Keysguy]

Hi Richard and welcome.
It will depend on your growing conditions but I would think in Singapore you definitely need to get it out of that plastic bag and I'd dispense with the sphagnum.

I grow in a relatively similar climate I think and I'd go with a mix of fairly course bark with sponge rock and a little charcoal. As the plant matures, I'd probably just go straight bark slightly increasing the size of the bark as it grows and you re-pot over the years.

Lots of water and food during the growing season and it will want a significant diurnal temp change in the fall to set buds.

edit- to specifically answer your question....80% bark and 10% each sponge rock and charcoal.

[rcheng]

Hi,
Managed to get all the stuff but waiting for transparent pots arrival.

[estación seca]

Cymbidiums are less picky about potting medium and pot type than are most other orchids. As long as the medium is even somewhat aerated but retains water, they will be happy. People in southern California who grow no other orchids often put them in commercially bagged potting soil. I wouldn't suggest this but it works well for people who forget to water plants most of the time.

[lahhal92]

Hi there,

I live near Disneyland in SoCal and it's dry here. One time I went to a garden supply store in LA and talked to 2 ladies who grew cymbidiums. They were looking for a specific mix but there wasn't any so they bought regular potting mix and barks. I learned from them and did the same. My cym is still alive

[rcheng]

Thank you for all the encouragements, repotted my cymbidium some weeks ago. splitted them into 3 pots, with min 3 bulbs in each and 3 small backbulbs in another. To date there don't seems to be any new roots but the keikis are still standing not much growth so far. I guess this could be same situation like a air vanda which was a gift to me and there don't seems to be growth with its roots. after weeks of watering, soaking the roots into water and fertiliser, green tips start appearing and its root growth is unbelieveable. it now has a count of 30 plus green tips. So i am hoping the cym will end the same, i got to be patience.

[Roberta]

Orchids teach patience. Progress in growth - roots and otherwise - is measured in weeks and months, not days. I live in southern California, USA. I grow Cymbidiums in a very un-precise mix of about 2/3 - 3/4 small bark (seedling bark) and the balance perlite ("sponge rock")... pumice would work as well. My climate is very dry, I water every day in summer, about every 2 days the rest of the year and the mix stays damp. In your humid climate, you will want to have a medium that is less water-retentive than I use.

If that had been my plant, I would have not divided it so severely... large divisions are stronger than small ones. You may wait at least a year for flowers with those small divisions. You don't need clear plastic pots for Cyms - the roots don't photosynthesize the way Vanda roots do... Vandas are epiphytes, growing with roots exposed. While Cyms can grow as epiphytes, they generally are much more terrestrial.

[rcheng]

update on repotted cyms sometime Apr2021: shoots from 2 repotted cyms are growing taller by the day and today i found few roots somewhere around the surface of the media of 30% charcoal, 30% fine bark, perlite and peat moss. The ambient temperature i observed for past few weeks is around 25 C to slightly below 30 C. this is Singapore weather from Oct till beginning Feb temp should be below 28ish. Night would be cooler. It is summer all year round. Next waiting for spike to appear around the cooler temperature period. Because of the heat, i water them everyday with rain water which i collected. Fertiliser: 10-20-20 N-K-P. Just have to learn to be patience when caring for The Almighty creation.