Cymbidium Roots

[Flower Fool]

Hi Everyone
I am repotting my Mom's Cymbidium. She has had it for at least 15 years and it has never rebloomed for her. The last time it was repotted was in April 2015. How often should it be watered? When I took it out of the pot it was bone dry. It sits in front of a south facing window. I have trimmed off all the dead roots I could find. Do these roots look okay for it to now be repotted? Also, is it okay for me to remove the old bulbs?
Thank you everyone in advance for your comments or suggestions.

[Roberta]

Roots look great. Cyms do like to stay on the damp side. So small bark, and water frequently enough for it to stay damp You can remove old, leafless back bulbs, there are plenty of leafy ones. (but if removing leafless pseudobulbs causes the mass to fall apart, you may need to leave some, you want divisions to have 3-5 pseudobulbs at least. ) Actually, looks great as it is, you did a great job of cleaning it up. If you do end up with several divisions, you can put all back into the same pot.
As for not blooming,,, two things that Cyms tend to need to bloom, both hard to achieve where you live:
1. Bright light (at your latitude, full outdoor sun during the warmer months)
2. Cool-down in fall, ideally warm days and cool nights. Leave it outside into the fall, nights 6-7 deg C are fine, can go cooler if it is acclimated which it will be if it is outside as temperatures drop. Cyms are actually fine down to 0 or even -2 C if they can warm up during the day.

Basically, Cyms need as much "outdoor time" as possible to get flowers.

[Flower Fool]

Thank you Roberta for your feedback.
I was able to remove quite a few of the leafless bulbs. I had to leave some as they seemed too attached to the healthy ones. I am quite nervous about putting it outside but will give it a go. I'm sure my mom would love to see it bloom (me too). Would it be okay if I were to put it on the west side of the house? How long does it need to go through these temperature changes? Also, there is a greenhouse on the southside of the house would it be okay to put it in there?
Thank You

[Roberta]

Put it outside now, bring it in when frost becomes a danger. As much as possible, you want it to experience weather change gradually, not a shock. So now is the time. West side of house is probably fine, depending on sun intensity. Again, shock is not good, better to expose to brighter light gradually over a week or two. (You know what your conditions look like, I don't) Once it it gets to cold for outside, that southern-exposure greenhouse would be good. Again, starting a bit late but worth a try and leading into next year. Cyms need more "abuse" than other orchids to bloom. If you want to be convinced of just how tough they are, take a look at this, from a commercial grower in southern California Ice

If your Cym leaves are light green, they're getting enough light. Dark green, likely not enough light to bloom (in general) They definitely benefit from as much light as possible in winter - that southern exposure will help, you can't do anything about the short days, of course.

The fall temperature drop is typically the trigger to start spikes, so that's the goal. So leave it outside as long as you can, you know your local climate. Just bring it into the greenhouse before serious frost.

[DirtyCoconuts]

i would also think about dividing it..it is plenty large and then you can treat the halves slightly differently and learn twice as much in a year.


what you have there looks very healthy

[Roberta]

This could be a very good option. I'd be a bit concerned about doing it now, though... it's getting toward the end of the growing season that far north. I still repot and divide my Cyms through August and into September, but I still have about 2 months of reliably warm weather. Ideal time for repotting/dividing most Cyms is more like late spring/early summer in most locations. Of course, this varies - like everything else "orchid" - depending on species in the background, some have different growth (and blooming) times.

[DirtyCoconuts]

as always, you are correct, Roberta....i forget it is not hot year round everywhere