cymbidium breaking off the shoots

[plantxart]

I stumbled upon this video by mukoyama

I have so many questions than answers
The video didn’t really explain it any further.
Do you break off all the shoots? How do you select which one to break off? Can you do this too with other sympodial orchids or is it just cymbidium?

I can't find any threads talking about this so I thought I'd start a discussion. I'm intrigued by this practice but yet I'm cautious not to cause any harm on my orchids.

[estación seca]

I didn't watch the video but I would never ever ever ever ever ever do this intentionally.

[RJSquirrel]

He has 1000's of plants. The stock not to feel it if he happens to kill a few

[plantxart]

There must be a reason and Mukoyama is a well known Japanese orchid farm.

[Roberta]

I don't understand what they are trying to do . Something lost in translation. That was a new growth, Why would one break it? i have had that happen when repotting and it I am very unhappy when it happens! This seems to be an aesthetic thing, for display they want a certain appearance. It certainly doesn't benefit the long-term health of the plant. So maybe if you are grooming a plant for display in a Japanese show it could make sense. But certainly not for general culture. I would never do such a thing on purpose!

[Jeff214]

So that's mekaki. It's a fairly common thing in Japan when growing plants. You remove weaker sideshoots or growths to promote better flowering (and growth) in the ones you leave alone. Like pruning rose buds down to one, so you get a bigger, fuller, bloom... or removing watersprouts of a fruit tree...?

It's noted that cymbidiums flower better when you remove excess shoots (summer - fall), particularly those that arise in the fall with the flower spikes. I don't really grow cymbidiums but my grandmother (who did) always did that.

Pruning is extremely detailed in Japan... (among many things...) to which # node of a plant one should prune per plant type. Below is a figure from a gardening site titled: "a beginners guide in growing cucumbers". Not that everyone follows that... but these details are commonly described for hobbyists.

[Roberta]

Thanks for the explanation! Clearly much more to it than that 2 minute video. I still wouldn't do that to my Cyms!

[estación seca]

I'd say until one is an expert grower don't injure plants for aesthetic reasons.

[Ray]

Japan is all about aesthetics, and horticulture is a great venue.

I would rather try to grow a bigger, stronger plant than maim one so that the remaining tissue develops more.

[Jeff214]

There is a well known Japanese proverb: An idiot who cuts a cherry blossom tree; an idiot who doesn't cut a plum tree.

Cherry blossom trees are delicate and easily rot from a cut. One should not prune it. On the other hand, plum trees are tougher and tend to produce side branches from the cut. Without proper pruning, flowering and fruit set of the plum tree may suffer. The point is that even similar things require individual consideration and treatment, pruning or otherwise.

Now does an idiot prune or not prune a cymbidium? I cannot say


I'm just kidding Just different schools of thought. I don't have enough experience to comment on cymbidium culture.