Cymbidium pot sizes

[Cym Ladye]

Hi Bob,

You and I are taking a bit of a different tack on this topic. In my experience, MOST new hobbyist growers will go 3-4 years in the same pot. Neither you nor I can go that long but we are not NEW growers and you, in the commercial arena, can not afford to go that long!

That said, Rodrigo got the gist of my message correctly. In regard to depth vs width of pot, I agree with Bob on keeping the larger pots a bit more shallow. The common 1, 2, and 3 gallon pots are ideal for most Cyms., Asian excluded as they seem to prefer the smaller, upright pots.

In the initial division of a plant, I try to keep a minimum of 3 green bulbs per division. You can keep up to five but I find more than that gets cumbersome. I never seem to lose a year of bloom after dividing a plant, perhaps because the bulbs and roots are strong.

I agree with Bob in keeping the pot size to 3 gal and under, but I have known several hobby growers who moved up the whole plant and ended up in 1/2 wine barrels! One needs a block party and a sterilized chain saw to divide them! I have also found that the best specimens I have grown are in the 3 gallon size but it takes at least three of us to move them to the shows!

CL

[rodrigo]

This discussion has been very helpful for me!
Thanks to all!

Originally Posted by Bobfharris

the key to happy blooming is to keep them rather crowded, so just pot up slightly larger than the pot it is currently in. Happy Blooming

This applies to mature plants that are already blooming.

But, how about the Cymbs that are just growing? Like the ones started from flasks?

What would the "pot size" rationale be in this case for optimal growth?

I have a bunch of cymbs I got from flasks about 1 1/2 years ago. They are growing just fine. Some roots are already showing at the bottom of the 4" pots I have them in. When and to what size should I re-pot them?

Thanks!

Rodrigo

[Bobfharris]

For young plants from flask I do NOT wait for them to be crowded in the pot until I reach the 1 gallon size unless it is a very small bulbed variety, ie Golden Elf in which case crowding can be in a 4 inch pot. From flask I do either a community pot or a plug in a 1 inch tray, then 2" then 3.5" then 5". May seem like a lot of work but in Hawaii that works best for me. You might skip the 5" and even the 2" as they will grow ok if they have enough drainage. What I do is care for them a lot before the first pseudobulb and be sure they never dry out until after this. Being crowded is really only for the later stages when flowering.
Hope that helps.
Cym Ladye: Mostly I have to repot before 4 years not because I'm commercial but because I live in Hawaii and our winters are milder. As a result there is never a season in which new grow shoots stop appearing and they constantly are growing. Typically I bloom faster than CA and they outgrow the pots sooner.. sorry if I confused anyone..

[Cym Ladye]

Bob,

You definitely have the best of both worlds in having the ability to grow in warm and bloom out in higher elevation cool mountains. 12 month growing for seedlings makes me REALLY envious and cuts your time from seed to bloom time by half, I would suspect.

That said, I was once advised to NEVER let a seedling go through stress by delaying potting up. Once a year was the advice.... no matter what!

CL

[Bobfharris]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

Bob,

You definitely have the best of both worlds in having the ability to grow in warm and bloom out in higher elevation cool mountains. 12 month growing for seedlings makes me REALLY envious and cuts your time from seed to bloom time by half, I would suspect.

That said, I was once advised to NEVER let a seedling go through stress by delaying potting up. Once a year was the advice.... no matter what!

CL

Repotting seedlings really depends on the growth not a fixed time. Since Rodrigo lives in PR I suggest his growing conditions are closer to mine than CA, and if the roots of a seedling have filled a 2" pot in 6 months (like mine do) then repot as a whole without disturbing the roots and you will be not only fine, but moving along to a quicker blooming. I have bloomed some material (standard cool weather) in 1 gallon in 1.75 years to first bloom by growing the seedlings where temps are mid 60's at night in winter to high 70's in the day by keeping them at low elevation for the first year and repotting 3 times (plug, 2", 4" 5") and then into 1 gallon for the last 7 months at higher elevation. This might be a suitable method for Rodrigo in PR..IMHO

[rodrigo]

Thanks to all for your answers.

This is what I gather from everything said about repoting seedlings:
Restricting growth of the seedlings whether it be because of pot size or any other reason should always be avoided.
Always re-pot seedlings before the roots stress for more room, and this comes out roughly (depending on growth conditions and initial pot size used) to a period of approximately one year.

Originally Posted by Bobfharris

Rodrigo lives in PR

Bob, I live in Costa Rica, somewhat more tropical than PR.
We have a farm in the mountains at 1,700-1,900 mts. above sea level. Temperature range there is from 11 - 26 centigrade as a rough yearly average.

Also, we have our home in Escazu at 1,200 mts. Temperature range is 15-32 centigrade approx.

I have Cymbs on both locations.

I know all this is totally off-topic but I just wanted to clarify the environment I deal with here

Thanks!

Rodrigo

[bullsie]

This has been very informative. I had recently repotted several of the new plants I had acquired as I felt they had outgrown their present pots. From this discussion they were in great need of potting up and now I feel relieved that I did it.

Thanks to all!!

[orchids3]

I dont think careful repotting ever hurts

[Bobfharris]

Originally Posted by rodrigo

Bob, I live in Costa Rica, somewhat more tropical than PR.
We have a farm in the mountains at 1,700-1,900 mts. above sea level. Temperature range there is from 11 - 26 centigrade as a rough yearly average.

Also, we have our home in Escazu at 1,200 mts. Temperature range is 15-32 centigrade approx.

I have Cymbs on both locations.


Rodrigo

Great. I was there in 1978 and rode the old RR. Sorry I thought it said PR on your profile. But all the more reason to repot more often as you suspect.
What kind of cymbs do you grow? Can you list some of the varieties?

I'd love to come back. .I will be producing a lot more warm tolerant varieties for sale and will probably have flasks for sale in a year or two.. so if you need warm tolerants, keep me in mind..

Thanks for your inquiries.

[rodrigo]

Hi Bob!

Originally Posted by Bobfharris

What kind of cymbs do you grow? Can you list some of the varieties?

Unfortunately no
My wife inherited the mountain farm with a cut-flower cymbidium plantation in it about 6 years ago. There are about 8-10 different hybrids (most came from Australia) but unfortunately the names got lost in history
Now, we have to re-identify them all.
I do have lots of photos. So far one miniature hybrid got identified here in the forum as "Show Girl Malibu" but I still have a lot of work to do in this sense.

Originally Posted by Bobfharris

I will be producing a lot more warm tolerant varieties for sale and will probably have flasks for sale in a year or two.. so if you need warm tolerants, keep me in mind..

This is great news! Of course I'm interested. Put me on your list! I imported 3 hybrids from Australian "Flora Labs" about 1.5 years ago and those are the babies that I'm still nursing. Started with 240 seedlings and now I'm down to about 70 healthy specimens
I was planning on importing every year, but after the enormous amount of work that this implied, I decided to skip a year and take care of my survirving babies
These are the hybrids I got from Flora Labs: Sarah Jean "Ice Cascade", Stonehaven "Cooksbridge", and Desert Fire "Black Magic".

I learned SO much since I joined the forum!
Thanks!

Rodrigo