When Will It Flower?

[Jacinta]

Hi

Just wondering since I'm so new to all this....when or how often can I expect to see a flower on my cymbidium orchid?

I'm in Melbourne where it's summer.

Thanks.

[Mrobert]

The stock orchid answer: it depends.
All kidding aside it should flower once a year. Some years it will produce several spikes, some years none, and most years you can expect one spike.

What kind of cym is it? Is it a mini or full size?

[bench72]

Hi Jacinta,

the majority of the Cymbidium hybrids tend to flower late Autumn until Spring. There are some, esp. those with I think either Cym suave or madidum (both of which are Aussie natives) which sometimes skews the flowering season to summer.

one thing you will now have to start doing is to start watering at night to cool down the plants during the warmer weather, also mid-summer, ie january is a good time to start with bloom booster fertiliser.

have fun growing!

[Diane]

Cymbidiums can be sooo easy... and then again, one bad day will kill off any chance for blooms for that year. I lost almost all my cymb spikes last year when we had one dry, windy, cold night. This year I have one plant with 2 spikes about to open and 5 more spikes on the way. Yet other cymbs are showing nothing on the bloom spike front right now. Cool down without cold, and moderate bloom feeding about 3 months before anticipated spike time seem to be key. My mom has grown cymbidiums for 40 years, has them planted in the ground outside her house in Northern California..

[Jacinta]

Thanks for the replies people, appreciate it.

I have had this cymbidium for at least six years and I've only ever seen it flower once.

Let's hope now that I've finally potted it today in proper media that will change.