HOT CYMS.!!! -OR- they all said it couldn't be done!!!

[DirtyCoconuts]

now, i am not a smart man....



Hot cyms by J Solo, on Flickr



buuuuut those look a LOT like flower spikes...forming on a cymbidium....in my yard....in Florida




FLAME ON



this is Cym. golden elf 'sundust' btw...

[JScott]

I think I have discussed hot Cyms on here before, and you were probably part of that conversation, but somebody recommended to me that looking for plants with Golden Elf as a parent might be a good place to start, so maybe they were right. Or more accurately, obviously they were right. You've got the proof right there.

[DirtyCoconuts]

correct all around. Roberta gave this to me and i believe that she recommended it

that lady, she knows a thing or two

[Roberta]

DC, Thanks...Looking forward to those flowers!

[estación seca]

An Australian speaker at our society told me he thinks flower spikes are triggered by cool nights when the growth that will bear the flowers is just forming, 14-18 months before the flowers emerge.

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by estación seca

An Australian speaker at our society told me he thinks flower spikes are triggered by cool nights when the growth that will bear the flowers is just forming, 14-18 months before the flowers emerge.

Probably true for the majority of Cyms, that follow the standard pattern. But then there are the ones that bloom in summer (like Golden Elf and its progeny, and a few species like dayanum) These are pretty obvious... the season for those starts in July/August. Some of the warmer-growing species also don't need a cool-down. Cym. Golden Elf is half Cym. ensifolium, which is a warmer-grower, tends to die if it gets cold. By breeding it with a standard to get Golden Elf, one gets the best of both worlds - warm blooming, but cold tolerant. Cym. dayanum is pretty cold-tolerant, but doesn't need it to bloom. Like everything in orchids, there are exceptions to the general rules. There are some Aussie Cyms from the north - tropical- that bloom nicely without cool-down. In fact, Cym. canaliculatum, I have found, actually needs to go into the greenhouse for the winter. Warm and fairly dry. And blooms its head off. (Before I learned how to grow it, it declined badly during the winter that it was outside. Once I figured it out, it has done so well that I was able to give a division back to the person who originally had it, had entrusted it to somebody else and lost it... Best insurance around is to share one's plants)

[james j]

I’ve had one of these and an ensifolium ‘ iron bone’ for a few years but haven’t been able to get then to flower.
2 years ago I tried to give the golden elf a cool period in the fall, down into the 50s or so and it died back quite a bit.
It looks like it has recovered so I’m hoping this will be the year.
At what point in the growth cycle do you see spikes? In the photo they look about 3/4 mature?
I notice from other posts that in general, my plants flower about a month later than the same plant growing in Florida. My new growths are about 1/2 way to full size, so I’m thinking next month maybe.

[Roberta]

For me, Cym Golden Elf tends to bloom in August or thereabouts (so spikes developing now, but not very big... I got one spike earlier that blasted) That can vary from year to year depending on the weather. Last year spring and summer were fairly cool, it was a bit later. The year before, hot and a bit earlier as I recall. Also, mine may produce another bloom in October-ish. But it's definitely a summer bloomer. Cym. Chen's Ruby (Golden Elf x iridiodes) usually blooms just a bit later - like September - but right now I have 4 spikes with buds, looks like maybe mid-August (or earlier, if they don't blast). These Cym. ensifolium hybrids definitely march to a different drummer than the usual Cyms. They totally don't seem to respond one way or another to the fall cool-down - they're pretty much done by then, except for that late set of spikes that may or may not happen.

[JScott]

My little Milton Carpenter 'Everglades Gold' is coming along nicely. I've probably had it barely more than a year. It was in a 2 inch pot and maybe 4 inches tall when I got it, and now it has three mature growths, with the newest growth being maybe 18 - 24 inches tall, and it has two more new growths starting. One is a couple inches, and the other is just now starting. At first I hoped maybe the second one was a flower spike, but it's too pointy, so I'm sure now it is another pseudobulb. But that's okay; it's growing and getting bigger. It's' getting bigger faster than I expected.

As per Roberta's suggestion, I have looked around at hybrids with Golden Elf, and I've located some I like at various nurseries that I want to buy, but I want to see if I can bloom the one I've got before I go out buying a bunch of Cymbidiums before I've even got one to bloom.

There's one I like, Cymbidium Keep Rolling By 'Orange 9' that has Golden Elf as a grandparent, and it is 37.5% ensifolium, so I think that might be a good second Cym if my first one works out.

[DirtyCoconuts]

All I am doing is holding on for the ride!!
I have them all under the eave so they don’t get full full rain