Help with Cymbidium back bulbs.

[PinkCloud]

So the back bulbs are sitting in a bark mix, in a warm room, out of direct sun light, with a bag on top of the pot.
I decided not to aply any clonex.. Mainly cause I was too lazy to go to the store in town to buy some.
Its been only a couple days and I know you all said it would take 6 months.. but I couldn't resist taking a little peek: One of the pseudo bulbs is definitely stating to grow some roots! One root is well on it way and two are starting to push out. Now this has left me a little stunned.. Since its not supposed to start growing roots. But surely roots are a good thing even for an old back bulb?

[jaxorchidman]

Just read this and looked at mine as well. It is a green BB, but it has a new PB growing on it and it is about 1/2" tall. No roots yet, but it has new growth. Nice job Pink!!!

[Cym Ladye]

It is not unheard of to have roots come out of the original BB but what you want is the "eye" on the side to develop into a new growth. The roots generally come after the growth starts but it depends on the time of year you start the BB. Sometimes the roots come concurrently on the developing growth; sometimes they never come on the first growth but wait until a new eye from the first growth develops a year later! Really aggravating when it does that but I have one plant that routinely develops that way!

Just because you started the BB a few days ago in one method does not mean you cannot move it to a new method. These BBs are tough

On another note, do not use too big a bag. Also, once you finally seal the bag with whatever damp mix you put in, there should be no need to water it again.

In regard to putting a bag over the BB, why not set the whole pot into a larger zip type bag and close it? Then you would not have to water again, the humidity would be much better and you would not have to move the BB again.

CL

[goofy]

I did the same thing as CL suggested, except in the beginning I just threw each bulb in a Ziploc bag in some dark corner until they sprouted some new baby plant.
Then I potted them in a small pot with bark and kept the whole thing in the Ziploc bag for a few months. I have the success rate of 100% (meaning 3 out of 3 )
The whole process took about 6 months.
goodluck!

Thuy

[PinkCloud]

So this is what I ended up doing:
Split the BB in two and potted them in some bark. (I let the bark sit in some water and then made sure that most of the water was drained before I potted.)

I put them in plastic bags and sealed them with a rubber band. (As I had run out of Ziploc bags.. Personally I blame airport security for making me run through my stash of ziploc bags! )

Now they are sitting happily in a closet above my water boiler for warmth. I keep the closet door open so some light comes in, but no direct sun light.

Before I potted I checked for some of those 'eyes' on the side of the BB's and there seemed to be several on both sides of all of them!
I suppose all I can do now is wait and see what happens..

So thank you for your help and for all the suggestions. If there is anything else you come to think of please let me know. And hopefully I'll have 100% success as Goofy did!

jaxorchidman -> Congratulations on your new growth! Send me some PB this way and I'll send you some roots! Haha

[Bobfharris]

Lookin good. Elaborate but looks fine. I just use about 1/3 of the bag filled with bark, put in 2-3 bulbs per bag and stack the bags on a shelf. I usually have several hundred to deal with each year so space is a premium for me..

[Cym Ladye]

Pink Cloud,

You may want to give them more light. I always am hesitant to say "no sunlight" but worst case scenario is putting the bags in front of a south window in the summer and a sure fire way to bake the bulbs. However, two of my trays are about 2 feet away from an eastern facing window and although the sun hits the bags, at this time of year it is not sufficient to cause excess heat. Just use your common sense on this.

You are on the right track. Good job.
CL

[roydevet]

I received a few back bulbs that looked dead. They where all dried up and had very little green on them. I placed them in a pot with bark to stabilize them. I soaked the bark and placed 1/2 of a 1 liter soda bottle over the whole thing. I keep the moisture up by watering the bark whenever the bottle has lost condensate on it's sides. The bulbs now have roots & shoots showing, after 2 months of this treatment. They are in a north facing window. The roots are 1 inch long and the shoots are green and about to divide into leaves.

[PinkCloud]

So I had a look at my Back Bulbs today... one seemed fine. (The one with three in the same bag.) But the other had little bit of white fuzz growing on the Back Bulb!! OH no, I thought everything was pretty much sterile in the bag, but I guess not. The other option is that one of the other bag had too much moisture inside. I opened the both bags so that the air could circulate.. I mean I don't want to rot the poor wee things!
Any ideas what I should do?

roydevet -> That's great! congratulations!

[PinkCloud]

Oh almost forgot!
Cym Ladye -> Thanks for all the tips. Its been real helpful!
Bobfharris -> I wish I had a several hundred to deal with each year.. I suppose if these pull through then who knows.. Maybe one day