Waldor Famous Cymbidium Potting Mix
 

I have used the Repotme classic Cymbidium mix on the one Cymbidium I have, and it has done well in it, but I recently discovered Waldor Famous Cymbidium Potting Mix, and repot no longer makes the classic Cymbidium mix, only the Imperial, which I don't care for. Waldor's mix has great reviews, but it is expensive. You can get it on Amazon and it is a little more expensive, but the shipping is a little lower. You can get it at Waldor, and it is a little cheaper, but the shipping is higher. It comes out about the same. I have 5 Cymbidiums growing out of their 6 inch pots, so I think I need to move them to 2 gallon pots when I repot, so I think I need 2 cubic feet (one might cut it, but that would suck if I get almost finished and find out I have just not quite enough mix), and that mix would cost me 83.90 at Waldor and 97.32 at Amazon. Has anybody used this mix and is it really worth it? Or would I be better off just making my own mix?

I've never bought cymbidium mix. I've potted them in whatever I happen to have lying around, and they still grow too fast.

You're way overthinking this. It isn't worth worrying about potting mix for Cymbidiums. Don't spend that much money. Don't pay to ship something you can buy at your local hardware store on the way home from work.

Pot them in 75% large bark or LECA from a hydroponics store or large (#4) perlite chunks or scoria/cinders or large pumice.

For the other 25% use "organic mulch" or cheap potting soil or garden bed top dressing or composted steer manure or container gardening soil mixture or any other kind of sawdust ("forest products") or peat based mix from your local big box hardware store.

Or pot them in shredded rubber tires.

Or mix all this stuff together and pot them in that. You won't be able to tell the difference in how they grow.

Don't stress about what size bag to buy. Just buy plenty so it's ready when your plants arrive. You'll use it eventually.

The only cymbidiums that ever die either freeze, get toasted in too much hot sun, aren't watered enough (and that takes over a year for bigger plants, much quicker for seedlings), are stood in deep containers of water to drown the roots or get eaten.

In the 45+ years I've been growing orchids, I have never purchased a pre-blended potting medium, preferring to mix my own so I can tailor it to the needs of the plants in my conditions.

That said, take a look at orchidmix.com. Wayne knows his potting media, and stocks damned near everything.

Thanks for the tips! The flower spikes are small, so I still have plenty of time to figure out what I want to do. I have a lot of different potting materials, I probably could just mix up some of the stuff I already have and be great, and maybe throw in some chunky peat moss to hold more moisture,

Use what you have on hand. Once it's in the pot, you won't see it and the Cymb won't care. With the caveat that when you have to divide it, LECA, scoria, etc, can really chew up the Sawzall blades quickly and dull your axe.

---------- Post added at 10:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:37 AM ----------

PS For anything you choose to grow in a bark mix, Orchiata is really hard to beat. Buy in bulk though, not specialty type places.

I use Orchiata, have for years, and I have quite a large quantity on hand. My concern about that is that it is my understanding that Cymbidiums like LOTS of water and never should dry out, and I'm going to have to do a hell of a lot of watering in the summer to keep them moist enough if they are planted in bark, so I was thinking maybe I should add something water retentive to it, such as maybe chunky peat moss. I also read an article by somebody who is Cymbidium famous (it may have been Milton Carpenter) who says that he uses pure rock wool on his Cymbidiums now, and I find that intriguing. I don't know if I want to try growing them in pure rock wool, but maybe I could add some of that to the bark to help it hold onto some moisture for longer.

Add sphag and/or coco. Better yet, throw it in semi-hydro! :biggrin: That’s gonna be my new mantra for ya Jeff.

A member of our Orchid Society grows her beautiful Cyms in full hydroponics. They are always absolutely amazing. She uses LECA as a medium.

Yes, let's put ALL the plants in semi hydro!

Was at Waldor today. They (and I) have the same problem, that we can no longer obtain the chunky peat**, which is the main ingredient in the Cymbidium mixes we each used to make.

I have switched to 3 parts shredded wood/bark mulch (ideally cedar), 2 parts composted manure, 1 part each of bark & coarse perlite.

** Still produced in Canada, but they won't ship less than a trailer load.