Help with Backbulb's.

[prc11]

I know that you can grow new pseudobulb's from old backbulb's on cattleya's, but can you do this with all orchids with pseudobulb's? Also what are some tips on doing this?

[quiltergal]

I've done it with Prosthecea, and Cymbidiums. The biggest tip......have a boatload of patience. It seems to take a very long time for those eyes to do anything.

[RosieC]

I think provided the backbulb has a dormant eye then it should be possible. However if all eyes on the bulb have been used already then it's very unlikely.

[CTB]

Patience, I'll agree mine were slow. it takes two to three months to sprout. I did it with oncidiums. I put nine in a pot and two sprouted. It's been four months and I just transplanted to their own pot.

[grasshopper]

I've done it with a Bllra. Marfitch 'Howard's Dream' AM/AOS, but I think I just got lucky because I only tried it with just one backbulb with no knowledge of "eyes" (I'm still pretty new to orchids). I placed the backbulb in a 2" pot, stabilized it with a chopstick and some string and watered it once a week. I noticed a new growth about a month later, and it is slowly growing.

I'm not the most patient person in the world, but I think growing orchids is helping me with that. So if you've got the space and the patience, give it a whirl!

[daveh_sf]

You might find Richard Lindberg's blog "Backbulbs" interesting:
Developing an Orchid Collection with Backbulbs
He has almost daily entries on orchid culture, including propagation from backbulbs, plus lots of other general orchid info. He's done quite a few species from backbulbs. Nice pictures too.

[britbloke]

I have learned a lot from Richard Lindberg's Backbulb.com site and found growing backbulbs is a whole new adventure for orchid growers.

[grasshopper]

That is a pretty cool website! I just spent the last 30 minutes perusing the posts. Thanks for sharing that link.

Now I must get back to work.