Is this cymbidium dayanum a lost cause??

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by thisisirene

Is it because they're sensitive to light/moisture? Is there anything else I should watch out for with cymbs??

Well, the weather (sun, rain, wind, etc) always damages the leaves as well as insects, all those things that are not common to find indoors. Those are resistant plants.
In hot weather give them a lot of water.

[estación seca]

Your grandmother has exquisite taste in Cymbidiums, and in growing them in beautiful containers. You should ask her many questions. She has a lot to teach you.

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Your grandmother has exquisite taste in Cymbidiums, and in growing them in beautiful containers. You should ask her many questions. She has a lot to teach you.

Agree!

[Cym Ladye]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Most Cymbidiums grown outdoors look like that. .....

ES, are you aware that many of the Asian Cyms are grown strictly for their foliage? Now, they may not be grown in hostile, outdoor climates, but in the 50+ years of growing, I have found that even growing outdoors, leaves can be kept relatively pristine with proper care and culture.

The mature growth shown on this dayanum is just a very mature older growth which, I suspect, has seen some damage from sunburn and transportation. Once the new growths mature, the plant should thrive. However, I do agree that the pot is properly small at this point and the mix very porous. Water well in warm weather. Dayanum is one of the easiest Cym species to grow and it should do well with a little common sense care.

Good Luck.

[estación seca]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

ES, are you aware that many of the Asian Cyms are grown strictly for their foliage? Now, they may not be grown in hostile, outdoor climates, but in the 50+ years of growing, I have found that even growing outdoors, leaves can be kept relatively pristine with proper care and culture.

I'm thinking back to all the Cyms being grown outdoors in Orange County, California, that I saw as a kid in the 1970s. The leaves were always loaded with tiny black spots, tiny brown spots, streaks, light tan sunburn spots. It was one of the formative experiences in my plant-growing career: realizing leaf spots are not necessarily a cause for panic.

And while I haven't seen Cyms in habitat, I've seen a lot of other orchids in habitat. They all looked vegetatively awful. Spots, fungus, sunburn, wrinkled leaves, shriveled pseudobulbs. A lot of the photos newbies post here in terror look better than anything in habitat.

(Orange County AKA OC is on the coast in southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego counties. Disneyland and Knotts Berry Farm are in Orange County. Some OC cities are Anaheim, Corona del Mar, Dana Point, El Toro, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Laguna Beach, Mission Viejo, Newport Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Santa Ana, Tustin.)

[Cym Ladye]

......I have found that even growing outdoors, leaves can be kept relatively pristine with proper care and culture....

The key words here are "with proper care and culture".

I absolutely agree that leaves in the wild can be in dreadful condition because no little elves are out tending them, squashing snails, heavily fertilizing or spraying, etc. They take root and survive where they can. In cultivation, most of us take at least some care in keeping the varmits at bay and tending the plants with fertilizer, at east once in a while.

I never saw the old Cyms in Orange County which I suspect are further south in warmer weather than the old nurseries in the foggy Santa Barbara area like Stewarts, Dos Pueblos, and Gallup and Stribling as well as some of the early wealthy private growers of the 1940's and 50's. I visited as a child some of these nurseries in the early 60's but never recalled "ugly" plants. Perhaps I was just too young to see.

I grow almost completely under oaks in the Bay Area and have some foliage damage but nothing that cannot be trimmed away for display purposes.