new to cymbidiums, help?
 

hello everyone,

i just received a beautiful pure yellow cymbidium 2 weekends and i haven't the slightst idea of how to care for it. here in tucson its been getting cold at night and i was wondering if i could put it outside since many places say i can put it under my porch so long as the temps dont go below 30. i have it in my living room which is the brightest room in the house with a large west facing window and two small east facing side bay windows.it gets no direct sunlight but a whole day of bright indirect light. is that enough? the temps in there are about 70 during the day and 40 at night. is that a good temperature range? and i mist every other day on the bottom of the leaves and try to avoid the flowers.

the instructions also say that i shouldn't water until the top 1/2" of media is dry. now thats hard to believe because the thing is planted in a 2 gollon pot and it would seem that there is tons more moisture left in the bottom. its planted in a bark and soil mix. i wouldnt want to risk watering it whenever ONLY the top half inch is dry. its getting around to its second full week of being here and its time to water all my plants again so i plan to water this one also because two weeks seems more than enough time to dry out 8 inches deep of media right? plus the flowers dont feel as waxy as they first did which indicated that there probably isnt enough moisture. oh and i read a thread on those new aqua globe things from the tv and i have a couple. the members said that it may not work for porous mediums like bark but this one is in a bark/soil mix. would an aqua globe be resonable to use for this plant. do they like constant moisture at their roots or do they like to dry out like dendrobiums?

another thing that concerns me is that the plant has some scarring on its leaves and i dont know what it is. they are like little clusters of black lines about a millimeter thick raised like bumps and they are surrounded by translucent areas of leaf tissue. i have read of cymbidium mosiac virus and i think thats what this may be but im not sure. can you guys tell if it is or not?

any other culture guides would be much appreciated. thank you

Some Cymbidiums are semi-terrestrials. They grow in the topsoil.

You might want to pull up some pictures of wild Cymbidiums growing along the roadsides or cliffs. You'll see what's going on.

Everything sounds right, except they can afford to go a little drier than what was recommended on the tag.

Cymbidiums are not as difficult to grow as Phals! :)

Just sit back and relax. Enjoy your plant.

Once the warmer weather rolls around, you can put it outside in bright indirect light.

I am not so sure.
 

I would think Cymbidiums are very difficult to grow in Tucson especially outside. You are just too hot in Summer.

While your plant is in bloom, it will need a lot of water in your arid climate. I would stand the plant in a bucket of water for five minutes at least once a week.

Relax about the marks on the leaves. These are called oedema in Cyms and although sometimes thought to be due to an excess of urea, they are not a disease and definitely not a symptom of virus

how hot is tuscon in summer? All my cyms are outside, in part shade, its usually 30+ celcius here in summer, and everyone is growing well (the humidity is another thing altogether :( )

I agree with King, it won't hurt to water a little less than the tag says, esp in winter. Nice plant btw :)

Tucson has very low humidity, higher average day temperatures and considerably higher average night temps than Sydney which is a Cymbidium-friendly environment overall.