I work next door to a post office, and one of the employees brought me her
orchid yesterday to 'save'. It once was a lovely Cymbidium, what I received
was a large SMELLY (it stunk, and I mean stunk!) pot of this nasty stuff. I
managed to salvage two starts and a 'iffy' bulb which looks like its trying
to grow a new offshoot. I threw out the rest of the slimy stinky mess. So
far I have managed to identify rot, scale, and powdery mildew (on the iffy
bulb). I would like to try to see if I can save these three pieces. Besides
a dousing in physan, and some alcohol for scale what can I do? What should
I pot them in (they were in regular dirt) there ARE some viable roots.
Right now I have it unpotted to let it dry out some, poor thing was drowned.
Any help would be appreciated, especially on that bulb covered in powdery
mildew and lord knows what else.
--

Hugs,
Molli

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 06:26:00 -0600, "molli"
wrote:


I work next door to a post office, and one of the employees brought me her
orchid yesterday to 'save'. It once was a lovely Cymbidium, what I received
was a large SMELLY (it stunk, and I mean stunk!) pot of this nasty stuff. I
managed to salvage two starts and a 'iffy' bulb which looks like its trying
to grow a new offshoot. I threw out the rest of the slimy stinky mess. So
far I have managed to identify rot, scale, and powdery mildew (on the iffy
bulb). I would like to try to see if I can save these three pieces. Besides
a dousing in physan, and some alcohol for scale what can I do? What should
I pot them in (they were in regular dirt) there ARE some viable roots.
Right now I have it unpotted to let it dry out some, poor thing was drowned.
Any help would be appreciated, especially on that bulb covered in powdery
mildew and lord knows what else.

Molli -

Most likely you will lose the moldy bulb. But for now the others
might enjoy an nice rest in a dim corner of the grow area with
some sphagnum to keep the humidity up but the air moving.
Standard Cym are heavy feeders and like a sweet organic, heavy
terrestrial mix.

On the other hand I grow my miniatures (Chinese) Cym in SH.
Going forward your babies might do well in that format. Do you
have any tags with this or is it a florist special?
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

Molli,

Not to discourage you but it may take several years before you'll see
flowers from a cym backbulb. If you have the time and space to nurse it
back to health that's great but if you are tight for space you'd be better
devoting your time to another healthy plant that will reward you soon.

My first purchase was a cym backbulb at a garden show. The vendor from
Hawaii had a beautiful display and huge cymbidiums. This was before I knew
anything about orchids. I bought 3 bare backbulbs for $10. The vendor said
they should bloom in a year or two. I was so gullible!

That was 10 years ago. I've seen one of them bloom. The other three grow
leaves. The climate here in the DC area is such that cymbidiums are a
challenge. The plants grow huge.

I love a beautifully grown cymbidium and envy people in areas where they can
grow these outdoors year around. I'm growing some miniatures but giving up
on the standards.

Good luck with your adventure.

Let us know what you do.

Good Growing,
Gene


"molli" wrote in message
...

I work next door to a post office, and one of the employees brought me her
orchid yesterday to 'save'. It once was a lovely Cymbidium, what I
received
was a large SMELLY (it stunk, and I mean stunk!) pot of this nasty stuff.
I
managed to salvage two starts and a 'iffy' bulb which looks like its
trying
to grow a new offshoot. I threw out the rest of the slimy stinky mess.
So
far I have managed to identify rot, scale, and powdery mildew (on the iffy
bulb). I would like to try to see if I can save these three pieces.
Besides
a dousing in physan, and some alcohol for scale what can I do? What
should
I pot them in (they were in regular dirt) there ARE some viable roots.
Right now I have it unpotted to let it dry out some, poor thing was
drowned.
Any help would be appreciated, especially on that bulb covered in powdery
mildew and lord knows what else.
--

Hugs,
Molli

Thanks Sue, its a florist special I'm afraid. I peeled all the dried dead
stuff off the bulb and found two starts, the bulb itself is firm and good.
What really scares me about this is that this same postal worker is bringing
me her other orchid next week...and according to her its 'in worse shape'.
The only way it could be worse is if it were dead! On an upbeat
note...Amy's Dracula carderi (inaequalis) has a spike, and her Pleuro.
tarantula has TWO! Gotta love Andy's....lol

grin I did the same thing Gene, in fact still have a couple in little 4"
pots with "nada".
I am not sure what your temps get to in DC but try giving your Cyms full
morning sun.
Cheers Wendy
"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Molli,

Not to discourage you but it may take several years before you'll see
flowers from a cym backbulb. If you have the time and space to nurse it
back to health that's great but if you are tight for space you'd be better
devoting your time to another healthy plant that will reward you soon.

My first purchase was a cym backbulb at a garden show. The vendor from
Hawaii had a beautiful display and huge cymbidiums. This was before I
knew
anything about orchids. I bought 3 bare backbulbs for $10. The vendor
said
they should bloom in a year or two. I was so gullible!

That was 10 years ago. I've seen one of them bloom. The other three grow
leaves. The climate here in the DC area is such that cymbidiums are a
challenge. The plants grow huge.

I love a beautifully grown cymbidium and envy people in areas where they
can
grow these outdoors year around. I'm growing some miniatures but giving
up
on the standards.

Good luck with your adventure.

Let us know what you do.

Good Growing,
Gene


"molli" wrote in message
...

I work next door to a post office, and one of the employees brought me
her
orchid yesterday to 'save'. It once was a lovely Cymbidium, what I
received
was a large SMELLY (it stunk, and I mean stunk!) pot of this nasty
stuff.
I
managed to salvage two starts and a 'iffy' bulb which looks like its
trying
to grow a new offshoot. I threw out the rest of the slimy stinky mess.
So
far I have managed to identify rot, scale, and powdery mildew (on the
iffy
bulb). I would like to try to see if I can save these three pieces.
Besides
a dousing in physan, and some alcohol for scale what can I do? What
should
I pot them in (they were in regular dirt) there ARE some viable roots.
Right now I have it unpotted to let it dry out some, poor thing was
drowned.
Any help would be appreciated, especially on that bulb covered in
powdery
mildew and lord knows what else.
--

Hugs,
Molli

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 08:07:59 -0600, Susan Erickson
wrote:

Standard Cym are heavy feeders and like a sweet organic, heavy
terrestrial mix.

Excuse my newbieness, but what would a sweet organic,heavy terrestrial
mix consist of?

I just happened to run across a cymbidium in need of a home and a re
potting job. The tag says Cymbidium Freshie Pauwelsil X Finlay
Sonianim. The plant itself didn't seem in bad shape, but the roots
were a rotten mass.

The info I downloaded from the aos suggests a mix of fir bark, perlite
and peat moss, but no ratios of how to mix.

bb

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 02:46:40 -0400, bb wrote:

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 08:07:59 -0600, Susan Erickson
wrote:

Standard Cym are heavy feeders and like a sweet organic, heavy
terrestrial mix.

Excuse my newbieness, but what would a sweet organic,heavy terrestrial
mix consist of?

I just happened to run across a cymbidium in need of a home and a re
potting job. The tag says Cymbidium Freshie Pauwelsil X Finlay
Sonianim. The plant itself didn't seem in bad shape, but the roots
were a rotten mass.

The info I downloaded from the aos suggests a mix of fir bark, perlite
and peat moss, but no ratios of how to mix.

bb

Don always went to the local mushroom farm and got the mix they
had grown mushrooms on last year. Very heavy in 'Farm organics'
and rich. He used 1/3 that and 1/3 recycled bark - but for the
life of me I don't know what else he mixed in. It was very heavy
and may be similar to what Molli found originally. It did have a
tendency to get 'gamy' or 'barnyard smelling'.

I have also seen people grow them in a standard orchid mix which
is what AOS is suggesting. The question is how do you water?
If you use a heavy hand and have decent humidity - lighter on the
peat and heavier on the perlite so it drains. If you need to
retain moisture in the mix due to the dryness of your area or the
length of time between watering, add more peat.
SuE
http://orchids.legolas.org/gallery/albums.php

You should be able to grow cymbidiums better than I can here in SC. I can
usually bring a BB to bloom in 3 or maybe 4 years. Yes my growing season is
longer than yours, but your cool season is longer than mine. Try the
fertilizer/bloom trick. I fertilize heavily and give good sun (noon shade
only so foliage is light green - not dark) until July. For minis, I stop
fertilizing July 1, for full sized cyms it's July 30. Water as usual and
leave out until first sign of frost. Clean them up, spray them down well,
and take them into the unheated GH which will stay above freezing.
I've found that fertilizing beyond this point leads to more growth instead
of setting flower buds. If you love the plants and haven't tried this,
you're cutting your own throat. Give it a shot. I haven't had a full sized
cym not bloom for us yet (there's always a first, I guess, but it hasn't
happened yet).
Gary
"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Molli,

Not to discourage you but it may take several years before you'll see
flowers from a cym backbulb. If you have the time and space to nurse it
back to health that's great but if you are tight for space you'd be better
devoting your time to another healthy plant that will reward you soon.

My first purchase was a cym backbulb at a garden show. The vendor from
Hawaii had a beautiful display and huge cymbidiums. This was before I
knew
anything about orchids. I bought 3 bare backbulbs for $10. The vendor
said
they should bloom in a year or two. I was so gullible!

That was 10 years ago. I've seen one of them bloom. The other three grow
leaves. The climate here in the DC area is such that cymbidiums are a
challenge. The plants grow huge.

I love a beautifully grown cymbidium and envy people in areas where they
can
grow these outdoors year around. I'm growing some miniatures but giving
up
on the standards.

Good luck with your adventure.

Let us know what you do.

Good Growing,
Gene


"molli" wrote in message
...

I work next door to a post office, and one of the employees brought me
her
orchid yesterday to 'save'. It once was a lovely Cymbidium, what I
received
was a large SMELLY (it stunk, and I mean stunk!) pot of this nasty
stuff.
I
managed to salvage two starts and a 'iffy' bulb which looks like its
trying
to grow a new offshoot. I threw out the rest of the slimy stinky mess.
So
far I have managed to identify rot, scale, and powdery mildew (on the
iffy
bulb). I would like to try to see if I can save these three pieces.
Besides
a dousing in physan, and some alcohol for scale what can I do? What
should
I pot them in (they were in regular dirt) there ARE some viable roots.
Right now I have it unpotted to let it dry out some, poor thing was
drowned.
Any help would be appreciated, especially on that bulb covered in
powdery
mildew and lord knows what else.
--

Hugs,
Molli

On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 17:03:00 -0600, Susan Erickson
wrote:

The question is how do you water?
If you use a heavy hand and have decent humidity - lighter on the
peat and heavier on the perlite so it drains.

I would probably be considered a heavy handed waterer. I have most of
my stuff potted on plain bark or commercial bagged phal mix, as per
the recommendation of my local orchid house. I'm on the west coast of
Florida so the humidity is fairly high. I'm currently watering my
potted orchids twice a week as that's also what's been recommended by
others locally. Now that they are finally in the new orchid house
(yippie) I'll be able to watch the progress and adjust my plant
tending habits accordingly.

Is any peat ok for they cymbidium mix, or do I need some fancy orchid
quality peat?

Thanks for your help.

bb

Then there are those of us using SH (semi-hydro) methods. I have been using
this on a couple cyms for the past year and I'm pleased so far. It is hard
to over-water using this method and you don't have to worry about mixing
proportions either. Check out http://www.firstrays.com for Ray's
explanation.
________________
Ken Woodward
Newton, MA
http://kwoodward.net

"bb" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 22 Jun 2003 17:03:00 -0600, Susan Erickson
wrote:

The question is how do you water?
If you use a heavy hand and have decent humidity - lighter on the
peat and heavier on the perlite so it drains.

I would probably be considered a heavy handed waterer. I have most of
my stuff potted on plain bark or commercial bagged phal mix, as per
the recommendation of my local orchid house. I'm on the west coast of
Florida so the humidity is fairly high. I'm currently watering my
potted orchids twice a week as that's also what's been recommended by
others locally. Now that they are finally in the new orchid house
(yippie) I'll be able to watch the progress and adjust my plant
tending habits accordingly.

Is any peat ok for they cymbidium mix, or do I need some fancy orchid
quality peat?

Thanks for your help.

bb

I just got some cyms and used a fine seedling bark mix for potting. Being a
orchid mix, it has everything in it. If you can't get it I'll send you a
link to where I ordered it from I think it will break down enough to not
worry about peat moss


"V_coerulea" wrote in message
.. .
You should be able to grow cymbidiums better than I can here in SC. I can
usually bring a BB to bloom in 3 or maybe 4 years. Yes my growing season
is
longer than yours, but your cool season is longer than mine. Try the
fertilizer/bloom trick. I fertilize heavily and give good sun (noon shade
only so foliage is light green - not dark) until July. For minis, I stop
fertilizing July 1, for full sized cyms it's July 30. Water as usual and
leave out until first sign of frost. Clean them up, spray them down well,
and take them into the unheated GH which will stay above freezing.
I've found that fertilizing beyond this point leads to more growth
instead
of setting flower buds. If you love the plants and haven't tried this,
you're cutting your own throat. Give it a shot. I haven't had a full sized
cym not bloom for us yet (there's always a first, I guess, but it hasn't
happened yet).
Gary
"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
hlink.net...
Molli,

Not to discourage you but it may take several years before you'll see
flowers from a cym backbulb. If you have the time and space to nurse it
back to health that's great but if you are tight for space you'd be
better
devoting your time to another healthy plant that will reward you soon.

My first purchase was a cym backbulb at a garden show. The vendor from
Hawaii had a beautiful display and huge cymbidiums. This was before I
knew
anything about orchids. I bought 3 bare backbulbs for $10. The vendor
said
they should bloom in a year or two. I was so gullible!

That was 10 years ago. I've seen one of them bloom. The other three
grow
leaves. The climate here in the DC area is such that cymbidiums are a
challenge. The plants grow huge.

I love a beautifully grown cymbidium and envy people in areas where they
can
grow these outdoors year around. I'm growing some miniatures but giving
up
on the standards.

Good luck with your adventure.

Let us know what you do.

Good Growing,
Gene


"molli" wrote in message
...

I work next door to a post office, and one of the employees brought me
her
orchid yesterday to 'save'. It once was a lovely Cymbidium, what I
received
was a large SMELLY (it stunk, and I mean stunk!) pot of this nasty
stuff.
I
managed to salvage two starts and a 'iffy' bulb which looks like its
trying
to grow a new offshoot. I threw out the rest of the slimy stinky
mess.
So
far I have managed to identify rot, scale, and powdery mildew (on the
iffy
bulb). I would like to try to see if I can save these three pieces.
Besides
a dousing in physan, and some alcohol for scale what can I do? What
should
I pot them in (they were in regular dirt) there ARE some viable roots.
Right now I have it unpotted to let it dry out some, poor thing was
drowned.
Any help would be appreciated, especially on that bulb covered in
powdery
mildew and lord knows what else.
--

Hugs,
Molli