new cymbidium and nightmare repotting - Orchid Board

JerseyGirlBecky · #1 02-05-2011, 11:15 AM

I bought my first cymbidiums at my local grocery store. I saw them last week when they came in. They had four of them and all were just full of blooms, BUT, they were 40.00 each. I obsessed about them until yesterday I want in and they had marked them down to 18.00 as the blooms were falling. Sooo, I got two of them. they were bursting the pots with the roots. We had to cut the pots off them. When the pot came off they were just a mass of roots, no sign of any potting medium. I think I must have spent an hour on each of them trying to unwind the roots and get to the center of the root ball. Many of the roots were rotted and stringy and I cut them all back that I could find. I do believe there were some good roots, not soggy and still firm.
But, I think I had to remove at least two thirds of them. The tops look beautiful, but do you think they will make it? Oh cut off spikes all but one on each that still had good flowers on them.
Thnaks Becky P.S. they are very big plants. No tag with name, but beautiful flowers.

WhiteRabbit · #2 02-05-2011, 03:26 PM

They should be fine, even if 2/3 of the roots weren't good, there was still 1/3 that was good.

RosieC · #3 02-05-2011, 04:58 PM

Cyms seem to grow roots quite agressively. Usually you would repot in spring as they start growing and it's advised to purposfully remove about 1/3.

As they were rotting you've had to remove more, but hopefully the p-bulbs will have enough energy stored to see it through to spring and once the roots get growing you should soon have a full pot of roots again.

camille1585 · #4 02-05-2011, 05:50 PM

Cyms grow tons of roots, as soon as you get some new growths on the plants, the pots are going to fill up very very quickly.

I checked on my cym around x-mas to see if it would need a repot in the spring. I had a horrible time yanking it out of the pot and I seriously could not see any medium, it was just solid roots! Don't think I'll try to untangle the mass of roots, I'll just chunk it in a bigger pot and add fresh medium around it.

JerseyGirlBecky · #5 02-06-2011, 08:42 AM

Yes, that is exactly what I was tempted to do, but I could see some strings when I pulled the bottom apart and was afraid to leave rotted roots in there. So far they look great. Don't know how long it will take if this is going to fail. Also, we have hot summers here and am wondering if I have to keep them in the air conditioning in the summer. Winter is ideal, I can keep them in my bedroom that is never above 65% in daytime. We like it cold to sleep. And they are in a southeast window.
Becky

camille1585 · #6 02-06-2011, 09:01 AM

You don't need to keep the plants cool this summer. They can take heat just fine, but what they need to bloom is a day-night temperature difference. In New Jersey, if you leave your plants outside from late spring to early fall they will get that difference. If you give them enough light at the same time, there's no reason for them not to bloom!