How to make Cymbidium bulbs to sprout

[Cym Ladye]

Rodrigo,

There are many different ways to sprout BBs from Cyms. My best experience is to put them upright in a sealed freezer type zippered Zip Loc quart bag with about a 3" sized pot of your usual mix soaked and well drained. I put the bags in a warm but well lit area and usually get sprouts within 4 weeks. My sprout percentage is about 90%. I only put two bulbs together if they are unusually small for the plant involved.

One can also bury 1/3 of the bulb in a pot of mix, place it under your benches, water and wait.

My bigger concern is you stated:
" A few months ago I carefully detached some bulbs from my strongest Cymbidium plants for the purpose of multiplying them."

Did you remove them from the pot or was this during repotting with the plant out of the pot? If you merely removed the bulbs from the plant while it was in the pot, leaving all the old roots in the pot, you are assuring yourself of a BIG PROBLEM. All those roots will have rotted by now and caused a mushy mess in the pot which will hold water and cause the loss of the remaining roots and general downslide of the plant.

Propagating Cym BBs is fun and rewarding but NEVER do it without removing the roots. Hence, the time to consider BB propagation is when the plants are out of the pot and you are dividing or repotting them.

CL

[rodrigo]

Thanks to all for your informative responses.

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

Did you remove them from the pot or was this during repotting with the plant out of the pot?
CL

No, I detached them from my potted plants.
I did take the roots out of the detached bulbs, but I guess some "orphaned" roots probably stayed in the pot

The good news is that the plants are doing ok and have bloomed again after the "surgery".
But good point, I agree it was a mistake. I will only multiply plants during a re-pot from now on. Thanks.

Now two more questions arise:
1- How can I tell that the bulbs have "eyes" that will potentially sprout?

2- I have the bulbs in sterilized "recycled" really nice in-vitro flasks I had from a previous flasked plants purchase. They seemed to be quite happy in there with no cotamination.
Should I change them to Zip-Lock bags as Cymb Ladie suggests? The only difference is that I have them sitting on moist paper towels instead of potting mix.

Thanks for your great help!

Rodrigo

[Cym Ladye]

Hi Rodrigo,

It is a known fact that if you ask 10 different orchid growers the same question, you will get 12 different answers!

I visually inspect the BBs I remove, but in many cases, the eyes are not visible yet they end up sprouting. You will get the best results with the larger, mature bulbs from the plant however. My feeling is to be happy with what you get and never expect to get 100% success. Some growers swear by soaking in various ingredients, but the final answer is if it works for you, keep doing what you are doing. If you want to experiment with Zip Lok bags with a mix next time, try it. If you want to move the ones that have not sprouted yet into them, go for it. There is no one way to sprout a Cym BB.

I have never much worried about a sterile environment on BBs as they certainly are not sterilized in nature.

Good luck,

CL

[Bobfharris]

I totally concur with CL on the tips and method. Only part I would add is that I use only bark in the medium in the bag. I make sure the bark has been soaked and then drained for several days so there is some moisture in the bark but not excessive. Too much and you get rot, too little and bulbs stay dormant too long.

[Cym Ladye]

Although I did not specify a mix for the Zip Lok bags, like Bob, I have only used a pre-soaked bark/sponge rok mix for my mix of choice. However, I have known others to have success with small pre-soaked coco chips.

Several years ago, I picked up a tip from another hobbyist grower who, once the bulbs were placed with their labels in the bags, actually added water to cover the bark and soaked the bulb(s) overnight. He then thoroughly drained the bag and sealed it up. I have tried it with good success.

I think that the two most important factors which affect the sprouting of a BB are temperature and the time of year it is removed from the plant. The earlier in the growing year, the warmer the temperature, the better the chances.

CL

[rodrigo]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

I think that the two most important factors which affect the sprouting of a BB are temperature and the time of year it is removed from the plant. The earlier in the growing year, the warmer the temperature, the better the chances.
CL

Cym Ladye: Thank you for this valuable piece of information (makes lots of sense).

I have another point on this that is puzzling me.
I always clean the bulbs as much as I can. That is besides washing the bulbs, sealing the wound, etc. I also peel all the dead skin from the bulbs.

I feel this is good for 2 reasons:
1- I can clean the bulbs so much better because I don't have all this dead matter, dirt, etc. covering them.
2- I exposed to the light all the green areas of the bulb, which will get photosynthesis going to its maximum on the bulb.

My only concern with the above is the possibility I might be causing some harm to the "eyes" of the bulb and deter sprouting.
The natural way of peeling the dead skin is by starting to pull on the skin from the top down and then it detaches at the joints (eyes) of the bulb.

Can anybody provide a comment on this?

Thanks,

Rodrigo

[orchids3]

If I try to sprout BB's the results are something like a composite of the whole group. - Throw them on the compost heap and they sprout almost every time. Chuckle! Then wife pulls them out and complains about my carelessness.