Need advice with care of a baby cym
 

Hello friends! I purchased a cute little Cym (would i call this a seedling or? There looks to be a very small back bulb attached...) at an orchid show thinking I could just bring it home and do some research online on how to care for it. I've found plenty of articles on caring for cyms but nothing about caring for a very young plant.

Is there anything that I need to know? I'm attaching a picture for size (it's got 2 growths, one is about 2-3", the other is 6-7")

I've read up a bit on cym care but I'm still very new to orchids. All advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

The label in the pot says it is (Pink Ice x Barbara Uno) 'Wild Lip'. Your plant is either a sprouted back bulb division or a small mericlone of the cross. This is a medium sized plant with the photo telling you what it looks like. Apparently it was meristemmed before it was registered with the RHS so carries the parents' names instead of a registered cross name all it's own.

In your temperate climate (Oakland, CA., these small plants can be treated as you would a mature plant, except they will be more sensitive to extremely cold or extremely hot temps and need more frequent watering (2 X a week). Put them outside in a partly sunny/partly shady area but protect from frost. With good care, it should bloom in a couple of years.

There is a branch of the Cymbidium Society of America (CSA) in Oakland - Golden Gate Cymbidium Society. Another CSA branch is across the bay in San Mateo, the Gold Coast Cymbidium Growers. Both are excellent sources for learning more about Cymbidiums. Both have web sites I urge you to visit.

Welcome to the OB.

:waving
Cym Ladye

Thank you Cym Ladye! It was actually thanks to you that I started loving and collecting cyms, I attended your talk on repotting them at the Penn. show a few weeks ago.

A few more questions:
- Does it require more frequent water because of its smaller pot size or do young plants need more to drink?
- Would it be ok to keep it inside for perhaps the first year to keep it more protected or would the plant do better overall if it always lives outside?
- And I'm trying to learn the rules of labeling... Years down the line if I decide to sprout it from a backbulb would I label the name of this plant just like this one (the parent names) or would it simply be named 'Wild Lip' since its now registered?

Thanks again for your help!
-debi

[QUOTE=twentyseven;551419]Thank you Cym Ladye! It was actually thanks to you that I started loving and collecting cyms, I attended your talk on repotting them at the Penn. show a few weeks ago.
Debi, I remember you and loved your enthusiasm and inquiring mind!

A few more questions:
- Does it require more frequent water because of its smaller pot size or do young plants need more to drink?
It requires more water because a smaller pot dries out faster.

- Would it be ok to keep it inside for perhaps the first year to keep it more protected or would the plant do better overall if it always lives outside?
Cymbidiums want to be OUTSIDE in our climate. Most, except those few bred for warm growing, will not bloom or thrive living indoors all year. Even warm growers benefit from a summer outside. The biggest problem is lack of adequate sunlight if kept inside.

- And I'm trying to learn the rules of labeling... Years down the line if I decide to sprout it from a backbulb would I label the name of this plant just like this one (the parent names) or would it simply be named 'Wild Lip' since its now registered?
Any divisions of any size from this plant must be named the same, as they are all pieces of the original plant.


I hope to see you at our next GCCG meeting in San Mateo this Friday and any more questions you might have can be answered in person! The speaker is George Hatfield of Hatfield Orchids in Ventura, Ca., probably the top hybridizer of Cymbidiums in the US right now.

Cym Ladye