All the information about East Asian Cymbidiums in English is wrong and there are many reasons why they don’t bloom. I only grow Japanese Cymbidium goeringii (orange flower clones) and I can bloom them every year and I can double the size every 2-3 years. Here are the reasons:
1. They must be grown in the East Asian Cymbidium potting mix (a mix of HARD Kanuma, BAKED Akadama, and Satsuma). These are pumices. All East Asian Cymbidiums in the Jensoa Section including C. ensifolium, C. sinense, C. kanran, C. goeringii, and C. faberi, are all terrestrial. So this mix is a terrestrial mix used to grow them. The potting materials is the standard materials used in Asia (China, Japan, and Korea), nothing special. It is also described in all the East Asian Cymbidium books to use them (not recommending to use them, they all tell you to use them). There is a reason for using it, so I don’t argue, and I don’t find alternatives, I just use this and that’s it. This potting material is critical in budding, hold the buds (for C. goeringii and C. faberii) and bloom.
2. The newest pseudobulb should be 30%-50% covered. If the newest pseudobulb is 100% exposed (you pot an orchid with pseudobulb where the base of the pseudobulb just sitting on top of the potting media), it will never bloom because it loses too much moisture (this is explain in detail in one of my Japanese books with diagrams/illustrations).
3. It will only bloom on a mature growth. Each growth takes 2-3 years to grow and mature. When I purchase my Japanese C. goeringii, I always only purchase bs plant. Although it is stated that a minimum 3 growths is required to bloom, this information is also very misleading. It will only bloom with 3 growths when you have a healthy root system. For example, I have a 3 growth C. goeringii (orange clone) that has 10-15 long white healthy roots, because it has a very healthy root system, it blooms every year. I remember a while ago, my Japanese vendor posted a plant for sell that had 10-15 growths but he only selling it as a medium seedling. The reason is that the plant doesn’t have such a healthy root system. So, to bloom, you must have a healthy root system and when grown in the East Asian Cymbidium mix mentioned above, the roots grow like crazy.
4. C. ensifolium is an intermediate to warm grower and the blooming season is between end of April into mid Sept. It doesn’t require anything special treatment, it will just bloom by itself.
5. C. sinense is a cool to warm grower. Spring and Fall = intermediate (15C-20C range), Summer = warm (25C-30C range), Winter (10C-15C range= no lower than 10C). The buds should poke out from the surface of the pot by Halloween. To hold the bud, keep the temperature between around 12C-17 C (15C on average), it should be able to bloom around Chinese New Year.
6. Fertilizer= I only use slow release fertilizer for East Asian Cymbidiums, I fertilize once in the spring and that’s it. I do not use liquid fertilizer as suggested by my East Asian Cymbidium vendor in Japan.
7. The information in English is 99% wrong (including Cloud’s Orchids), that’s why you rarely see them at North American Shows (also rarely seen in Europe). I figured out how to grow them by reading a lot of books in Chinese and Japanese and with a very detailed instruction from my Japanese vendor. Now the C. goeringii in my collection are all budding again and will bloom next Spring. If you want more information how to grow and bloom them, feel free to contact me.
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