Cymbidium 2011

[YT]

A very nice variety of C.lianpan, Chinese name means HEART TO HEART.
Happy Valentine's Day！

yijiawang, how nice to share us your lovely flowers in good timing! I got an exactly same variety C. lianpan '心心相印' this winter and am looking forward to bloom it And thank you very much for your intelligible explanation. Happy Valentine's Day to you, too

It is just the first time I heard of using Kanuma with C. goeringii. All Japanese growers I have spoken to use different mixtures from pure Kiryu to very exotic mixtures (but all have different recipes, none use the same). Just shows experimenting is worth it, too bad the more unusual forms are expensive over here. Roughly what % of each do you use?

Pascal, this is my soil formula. If you think anything about this, C. goeringii and C. lianpan look good with this soil here, that's all. Perhaps it should be better to ask your Japanese friends again. Sorry to my poor English ability.

40% NIKKO (hard type KANUMA) 日光砂
15% KANUMA 鹿沼土
15% hard type AKADAMA 硬質赤玉
15% natural pumice 天然軽石
10% obsidian perlite 黒曜石パーライト
a bit charcoal chips 炭

[Maggi Young]

A mixture that will produce good results in one place cannot be relied upon to do the same in other climatic or cultural conditions. That is why Ian always says (e.g. in the Bulb Log)that a recipe is a recipe for our conditions.

It is useful to hear what other growers use but in the end we must each experiment to see what works best for our conditions., where there may be more or less humidity, extremes of temperature etc.

[YT]

Thank you Maggi, that is just what I would like to say

[Maggi Young]

Thank you Maggi, that is just what I would like to say

Thanks Tatsuo.

You do a good job of expressing yourself in English, I must say....and Yijia, too..... better than we Brits might manage in Japanese or Chinese, for sure!  English is such a crazy language.

[Pascal B]

Tatsuo & Yijia, thanx for the info, very helpful! I have never heard of the hard form of Kanuma being available here in Europe but am going to look for it.

And yes Maggi, I am experimenting to see what works in my situation, hence my question what others grow them in. But I regret I have fallen for the charm of this Cymbidium section with species with only a few flowers, I should have stuck to the Asarum and Arisaema......

I was told they were quite easy (with goeringii being the best to start with) but only later on I heard that none seemed to agree on how to grow them. And it also apparantly depends on where the plants of goeringii come from how it responds, Sikkim, China, Korea, Japan or any of the selections....sigh...So growing one clone well doesn't automatically mean another clone responds the same way if treated the same. The same for the supposed hardiness of this species, some clones are reasonably hardy, some don't depending on their origin.

[Maggi Young]

I know the problems, Pascal... they exist in so many other plants... Clanthe for exam ple... hte origin can have a great impact on the hardiness. Ah well, it keeps us busy, I suppose, trying so hard to please our plants!

[KBruyninckx]

I heard some European purchased Japanese colorful goeringii, but die soon. it is same in China too, maybe these plants from greenhouse and sensitive to ordinary garden climate. they need 1 or 2 year to accept their new home.

Much also depends on the condition the plants are in once you receive them!

I will not go into too much details but lets say that from a selection of colourful Cym. goeringii purchased many, many years ago I still only have 1 real plant (which attempted to flower for the first time last winter) and 3 wannabe plants... all the rest have perished!

About 2 years ago I laid my hands on, again, selected clones sourced from Japan and these where in much better condition . First plants from that purchase are in flower now.

My compost is made of [Akadama or Kanuma or other inorgnic clay(sera mit?) :perlite or pumice:bark=2:2:1, too much inorgnic clay maybe storage too much water for roots. This compost fit to most of terrestrial Cymbidium, except Cymbidium qiubeiense， this species from lime stone area, need raise pumice to 60% in compost.

Everyone has their favourite compost of course. I just use our 3-mix (bark + sphagnum moss + charcoal), the same mixture we use for our other orchids.
The secret also lies in the pots :-) tall, slender pots are a prerequisite!

Interesting to read that Cym. qiubeiense grows more on limestone, it just receives the same treatment as the others.
Cym. qiubeiense does in general grow a bit warmer than Cym. goeringii, no?


Kenneth

[yijiawang]

Tatsuo & Yijia, thanx for the info, very helpful! I have never heard of the hard form of Kanuma being available here in Europe but am going to look for it.

And yes Maggi, I am experimenting to see what works in my situation, hence my question what others grow them in. But I regret I have fallen for the charm of this Cymbidium section with species with only a few flowers, I should have stuck to the Asarum and Arisaema......

I was told they were quite easy (with goeringii being the best to start with) but only later on I heard that none seemed to agree on how to grow them. And it also apparantly depends on where the plants of goeringii come from how it responds, Sikkim, China, Korea, Japan or any of the selections....sigh...So growing one clone well doesn't automatically mean another clone responds the same way if treated the same. The same for the supposed hardiness of this species, some clones are reasonably hardy, some don't depending on their origin.

Hello Pascal,
 Tell you an interesting thing. Beijing botanic garden collected some Cymbidium faberi from Henan Pro in 35 years ago, grow them in open garden , no problem for cold hardy. It is very cold in winter of Beijing city, and botanic garden located on countryside, temperature will down to -20C at the night, so it should survival even in most European countries .

 Some north Chinese botanic garden collected Cym goeringii from Henan, Anhui and Zhejiang pro. no problem in cold winter if temperature down to -15C in short term. but Yunnan Cym.goeringii and lianpan can not tolerate -5C .

 Gene is so variable!

 

[yijiawang]

Interesting to read that Cym. qiubeiense grows more on limestone, it just receives the same treatment as the others.
Cym. qiubeiense does in general grow a bit warmer than Cym. goeringii, no?


Kenneth
[/quote]

I forget my plants in flower now if without your question...lol

Cym.qiubeiense is from W.Guangxi and E.Yunnan, lime stone mountain, very nice draining soil. I like this species very much because special leaves and nice shape flower, I collected albino of it as picture showed, long flower term... these flowers keep in shape over 2 months already...

Easy to grow but slow growing because thick roots(like finger) and leaves, it is display that they are from dry situ. So epiphytic orchid compost will be better. Altitude is higher than goeringii, about 1500-2000meters, so European climate will be very nice for it----not easy to be found in Chinese nursery because they can not grow well in warm climate.

[KBruyninckx]

I'll add some more Cymbidiums to the thread.
Here is a peloric Cymbidium goeringii that I picked out from a batch of seedlings this weekend:




kind regards,

Kenneth.

[angie]

Wow 

Angie

[YT]

Kenneth, you've got a very nice one!

A yellow flowered Cymbidium goeringii from Gùizhōu, China.

[angie]

Another wow from me  I have never seen this type of Cymbidium, really lovely flower.

Angie

[Maren]

Kenneth,

that peloric Cymb goeringii is a stunner, if you can breed true from it, you will be on to a winner. Congratulations.

[YT]

Angie, thanks

Cymbidium goeringii 'Shu-getsu' from China.