Cymbidium suave

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

Adam, not to put a damper on your desire to obtain a piece of Cym suave, but be forewarned that it is a VERY DIFFICULT species to keep alive and to bloom, especially given your location. Some of the best species growers in California have given up in frustration on the growing of this plant. Part of the problem is the failure of collected plants to re-establish themselves after having their their huge natural root systems cut.

I lot of people in Australia grow this species quite successfully. My suaves grow and flower without much attention. Like most people I know, I grow this species in tall, hollow logs and never repot. Some people also use plastic or terracotta pipes instead of logs but the effect is still the same. I use with eucalypt heartwood as a medium. I don't know to what extent other hardwoods would suffice. Certainly pine bark or coir would break down too quickly to be useful. While older plants are difficult to re-establish after repotting, if you can avoid repotting them they are reasonably easy to grow.

[Cym Ladye]

Originally Posted by Andrew

I lot of people in Australia grow this species quite successfully.

This says it all, Andrew, as Cym. suave is native to parts of Australia and your ability to get a medium found in its native habitat is far easier than for those of us in the US.
Your description of growing this species is the same as used by many of us, but it also shows the difficulty of the process.

[taipan]

SDF
You may try to contact Aust.nurseries to see if they have flasks of C.suave. As Andrew & Cym Ladye have mentioned it is a very difficult plant to establish, the root system can travel for "feet" through a very tiny crack in the tree. Yes it is true that some Aust.growers grow it well but they have probably been able to pick plants that have been growing on a really rotten piece of timber & thus they have been able to get most if not all of the roots

[Andrew]

Originally Posted by Cym Ladye

This says it all, Andrew, as Cym. suave is native to parts of Australia and your ability to get a medium found in its native habitat is far easier than for those of us in the US.
Your description of growing this species is the same as used by many of us, but it also shows the difficulty of the process.

True, and this is not a typical "stick it in a pot of fir bark and take an axe to it every 3 years when it gets too big" Cymbidium. It's not one you can just plonk next to your showbench Cyms. I guess 'the difficulty of the process' is a case of perpective. I can see how such a species would be considered troublesome in a Cymbidium collection and admittedly Australia's Cymbidium growing community largely ignores this species. However, compared to the effort some Australian native orchid enthusiasts go to for other species, putting a young plant in a log and letting it grow unattended is not considered unreasonable.

[OrchidLover1982]

I lot of people in Australia grow this species quite successfully. My suaves grow and flower without much attention. Like most people I know, I grow this species in tall, hollow logs and never repot.

i didn't see this thread until now. Contrary to popular belief it isn't that hard to grow as Andrew says. Its just that most wild collected plants suffer so much root damage that most don't recover. The plant really does not like have its roots torn apart and this should be taken into consideration when repotting, which should only be done when absolutely necessary and done with care. I have a few specimens here doing well in pot.

They shouldn't be too hard to grow from flask, i would think they should do fine in a normal cymbid mix, just be careful not to overwater them. They never really like to be wet but kept moist. Quite tolerant of temperature and humidity ranges. You might also want to use a very deep pot to accomodate its large root system. This also helps.

I have some plants growing in coconut husk and they seem to be doing well. I also have a few in fine pine bark. They are not doing quite as good as the ones in the coconut husk but they still look ok.

By the way if anyone is interested in seed of this species and can flask or wants to get them flasked PM me. It is a common plant here where i am and i can easily collect some seed for anyone interested in flasking them. This is the time of year the pods ripen also.

peace

[OrchidLover1982]

Here is a photo of a specimen plant growing in situ in the top of a cut down tree stump.

[IMG][/IMG]

[stonedragonfarms]

Thanks for the great pic and the info orchidlover. I'll keep up my search for a reasonable price plant.