Doubts with my cymbidium

[Cym Ladye]

On the OB the policy is to play nice, be constructive in advice and stay on topic. (referred to a previous, removed post)

[james mickelso]

In Spain your cyms should flower in the mid to late winter. These are most likely new growths. Your pics look like nice healthy plants to me. Cyms like to be kept moist but not soaked. If I were you I would put some holes in the side of the pots they are planted in about one third of the way from the bottom. 6 holes about one half inch in diameter. Ferttilize with half strength 20-20-20 until august and then switch to a 10-30-30 fertilizer until mid october. Then stop feeding until march or april then back to the 20-20-20 fertilizer. The ends of the leaves turn brown when there is too much nitrate in the media just as cymonym wrote. That could also be caused by not enough flushing the media or the hardness of your water. I switched to RO and distilled water because I have around 350 parts hardness or salts in my municipal water. Since then my cyms have stopped getting the leaf browning. Good luck.

[Cym Ladye]

Orchidicto,

I have always said that if you ask 10 different growers how they grow their orchids, you will get 12 different answers. What you have to do is to put all the ideas together, figure out what conditions you have and then work out a solution that works for you. Do you have enough ambient humidity to put extra holes in your pots? Do you have the time to apply 3 different soluble fertilizers throughout the year or would a balanced, slow release product work better for your time? The same questions apply to the media you use. CHC, coir, bark or something entirely different?

Learn your climate and where you will be growing your Cymbidiums, then pick the solution or combination of solutions best for you and you will save yourself a lot of grief. It still will be a trial and error situation, as it will be for as long as you grow orchids.

Good luck,
Cym Ladye

[james mickelso]

Cym Ladye, is that the reason we are advised not to fertilize on a dry media and water first? I have never found an answer to that. Thanks. My cyms always had this condition and I attributed this to bad water as my water has very high salts and is hard. Since I have switched to RO or distilled the condition has gone away. Everything is growing better. What is the mechanism for the browning on the tips if fertilized without watering first? I love knowing these things. Thanks for the info.

[cricketerry]

I am sorry but I am going to disappoint you. Here in the northern hemisphere you are very unlikely to have spikes forming in May. The earliest I have seen them forming on my plants has been August. Also spikes tend to have a rounded top rather than the pointed shape I can see on your plant.

[RosieC]

That's strange cricketerry, mine here in the UK started opening flowers in march and is now close to opening the second spike (with the first still open but looking faded). When it flowered in July last year I thought it was rather late.

I don't do much special, just protect from frost in a very cool greenhouse over the winter (3-5C minimum in there).

Are you keeping your's outside all year, do you let them get frosted or even snow?

[cricketerry]

Rosie, I have several cyms in flower at the moment but most are going over. You can see them here if you are interested.
(Pictures by cricketerry - Photobucket)

I was not saying that they do not flower now but that it is very unusual for a flower spike to start forming in May.

A spike starting now would not flower for several months so it would be flowering in July/ August very late (or early) for normal cyms.

[RosieC]

Ah, yes I understand.

Mine did last year start one around now, but that WAS an odd time for one to start and I was very surprised as I had already decided it would not flower for me that year. Sorry mis-understood

[Cym Ladye]

We seem to have two very active topics going here: 1) is it a spike or a growth and 2) why leaf tips on Cyms turn brown.
!) Flower spikes can emerge anytime of year but for each individual plant, they come at a fairly regular time each year depending on parentage. That said, there can often be an "out of season" spike emerge but the quality of the bloom will not be as good as it would in cooler weather, since these usually emerge at the beginning of summer. That said, the fall bloomers will initiate spikes in late summer. Then there are some heat tolerant hybrids, as those coming from Golden Elf breeding, which can initiate spikes all year long.

2) Leaf tip burn can occur for several reasons, as has been stated on this thread. I do not water before I fertilize as I go along with Ray's comments on food for people and food for orchids being similar. If you fill the plant cells with water just prior to fertilizing, less fertilizer will be absorbed. However, if the plant is totally dry, the salts in the water and in the fertilizer will join forces, march to the leaf ends and cause burning. I do not know the actual scientific words for this occurance, but I am sure a chemist here will be able to fill in the details of actually how the chemicals move through the cells if more detailed info is needed.

So what are your alternatives?
1) Do not let Cyms totally dry out before fertilizing. 2) Use a dilute fertilizer each week rather than full strength once a month. If you still have burn, further reduce the amount you are using each week. 3) If you have high dissolved salts in your water, go RO. It is all a balancing act and trial and error for the most part.

Hope this helps,

CL

[james mickelso]

Thanks Cym. That is interesting. I must have two parentages because some of mine bloom in Oct-Dec and the others bloom about Dec-Feb. I have few names or cross info on any of mine. I note on a tag what the color is and when it blooms. That's about all. Where in NoCal are you located? The cyms prbably grow better up there than here although the beach weather is not bad for them. Thanks for the info.