Planting Cymbidium in the Northwest
 

Hello, I'm looking to plant some Cymbidium but indoors, and I live in the Pacific Northwest in the U.S. I've hear a lot of differing advice on both pot size as well as type of soil. I'm brand new to growing orchids, so any advice would help.

First, Welcome!

First, no soil - Cymbidiums need to be moist, but also need good drainage. I recommend small bark. You are going to have difficulty growing and blooming Cyms under indoor conditions. They want high light (a challenge in the Pacific Northwest generally) and significant day-night temperature variation (difficult to achieve under indoor conditions). There are many types of orchids that will grow well under your conditions. Cymbidiums, not so much. Can it be done? Probably. But not without some considerable effort (and probably expense). Now, like any generalization about orchids, there are "yes but..." exceptions. Some of the Chinese species grow with lower light and less temperature variations. Those tend to be small plants that grow well in "tall form" pots Amazon.com So you would need to specify what sort of Cymbidiums you have in mind.

I tried to grow Cymbidiums in Portland, OR for a long time. I mean, I tried really hard. They have them for sale at every grocery store during the blooming season, so you would think they would grow well there, but I found they did not. I kept the plants outside in the summer, and that gave them sufficient light. They had the correct fall temperatures to initiate spikes, but then it gets too cold to leave them outside, and when I brought them inside, the buds would always blast. I even tried putting them outside on warmer days, and brought them inside on freezing nights, and even that failed. What I ended up with was a lot of foliage plants. Very attractive foliage plants, mind you, but no blooms, and I wasn't really interested in a foliage plant. I'm not telling you not to try it, but I would suggests not to get your hopes so high. I had much greater success with nobile type Dendrobiums in Portland than I ever had with Cymbidiums.

There is one Cymbidium I have been able to grow and bloom everywhere I've lived, and that is Cymbidium Milton Carpenter 'Everglades Gold'. You might give that one a try.

Welcome to the Orchid Board!

Try Grammatocymbidium hybrids.

There is a Cymbidium forum here accessible from the left yellow menu. There's a lot of information there.

Beware, many Cymbs get huge...I have a few that I can't move the pot only by myself.

Read the story of Milo of Croton.

Not exactly the northwest (although I lived in Oregon and Washington and Alaska for many years) but here in Austria I was gifted a large Cymbidium last year by a nice lady who I garden for. She had only sporadic success getting it to bloom in the years she had it. This year I got 5 spikes from it. When I received it I re-potted it into a large terracotta pot with some very cheap bulk orchid bark chips (of the sort I wouldn't use for other orchids). I left it outside well into autumn even as the weather started approaching freezing. It may have even experienced a 0 degree night or two (Celsius). It was in a place that received strong mid-morning light but was in shade/dappled shade in the afternoon. I regularly watered it with a garden hose from summer into autumn.
We bought a house and the process of moving caused some spikes to break, and my son just broke off another one with a toy ball, but the flowers are beautiful.

---------- Post added at 04:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:20 PM ----------

I've been thinking of splitting the big one I have...maybe I'll use a saw or something instead of my fingers!

You found the formula for Cyms... a bit of abuse. :biggrin:

The same should work in the Pacific Northwest in the US, the biggest problem there will be light, since there are lots of overcast, rainy days.

There is a lot of great cymbidium cultural information from Casa De Las Orquideas at Casa de las Orquideas Online . You may be able to keep them outside in the PNW longer than you may think, as many species prefer cold temperatures, even down to 27* F. If you have a garage with a window, or the ability to provide artificial light in an unheated garage you may be off to the races.