cymbidium lancifolium and Cymbidium dayanum

[walingwaling]

hi derek,
thanks for all the info, especially the "delicate root" part coz my small plant here has fleshier roots and therefore im doing the right thing by keeping it on the moist side.

[delphiguy]

Decoy
how do you grow your cymbidium finlaysonianum? in terms of light and temps? mine is in
a wire mesh and they are really packed in there.... I had them in an area where they can
get lots of light, unfortunately the sun is getting brutal these days and now the leaves
are getting yellow starting from the bulbs.... I have moved it last week to a much shadier
location, it seems that the leaves are starting to green up a bit, but i wont be sure until
i take a closer look at it this weekend.

[PhilsDC]

Hi Randy,

I also encounter problems here at home. My plants are too dry because of the El Niño Phenomenon. Even though our place is dry, the air here is still fairly humid. Some of my plants have dry out and it needs to be repot.

At this time your Cymbidium should be place under the shade areas and treat it with fungicide. The fungicide will aid to protect the plant against infections due to the strong sun's radiation that burned out parts of the plants that will gradually resulted to blight.

You must also changed the potting media, make the plant media tight for the plant to ensure the moisture is intact.

Don't water plants when it is windy, it will cause wind-burn to leaves, roots of even flowers and it will totally dry out the entire plant.

Hope this will help you.

[catttan]

Thanks Decoy for the pics. Awesome blooms all of them.I used to have ensifolium, chloranthum and finlaysonianum but I gave them away when I stopped growing orchids some time ago. So seeing your pics brought back pleasant memories.

[delphiguy]

thanks for the tips decoy, and yes this dry weather we're having at the moment is bad
news for our plants.

[orchidpeople]

Nice to see a collection of warm tolerant cymbidiums!!

[Jef09071984]

Thanks for the pics phil, i like the Cymbidium dayanum.

[mr. suarez]

Ron, fleshy roots (and leaves) among orchids are a sign that they are used to periodic drying outs. If you keep them moist all or most of the time, then there is the possibility that the organs cannot absorb any more moisture which could lead to rot.

Cymbidium lancifolium favor areas with more or less distinct dry seasons- note how the new growths are always produced higher than the previous growth: this is an adaptation to keep themselves up against accumulating leaf litter. The prop-like roots also is an added adaptation, that is, to keep the plant upright and stable as they elongate upwards.

I would agree that C. dayanum is both lithophytic and epiphytic, but would like to add a few more details. These orchids have narrow leaves and thick roots. What this translates into is that they require high light levels (the more surface area there is on the leaves, the more they require shade- note the broad leaves of Phalaenopsis). To compensate for the ever-present possibility of desiccation, their thick roots penetrate deeply into their hosts and absorb as much moisture as they can. During strong rains or typhoons, they often fall to the ground with their hosts and live as terrestrials, their roots happily absorbing nutrients from their hosts' decaying wood.