Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Indoor Garden. Orchids Blooming.

Cymbidium hybrid

Plant window in home office.  Cymbidium, Dendrobiums, and Oncidium.

Sanseveria and twinkle Oncidium orchids
Cold day.   Appreciate indoor garden.

The cymbidium hybrid was outside west of the house, out of full sun, all summer.  It did not get much water.  Brought inside in October.  Now blooming.  Watering with a diluted balanced mineral supplement.

Similar for the Oncidium hybrids.

The Sanseveria was left to languish in dry area on north porch, no water all summer.  I brought it inside and left it in garage, in October.  It's been there until today.  I cut off the dead  leaves.  It should regenerate by Spring.  Gives me something to appreciate growing.

Repotted the Yamamoto dendrobiums.  They had similar treatment.  I don't know what they'll do.  The look good considering how much they dried out.

I wondered how orchids and other plants survived the months-long journeys by ship in the Victorian era, and before that.  Many can handle extended period of dry, minimal light, and general neglect, for months.  Then regenerate when conditions are better.

There are other Cymbidiums.  One looks like it might also bloom.  The main issue with them - aphids.  The buds are covered with aphids when they are about to bloom.  A couple of sprayings with neem oil, and they look great.

It's nice to have plants that were dormant, or at least required minimal effort, in the summer, regenerate in the winter.

4 comments:

  1. Daniel- so glad to have found this blog post-
    I'm curious if your cymbidium is still thriving. I live in South Dakota and this winter I plan to overwinter six new cymbidium. I've read just about every article I can find in cymbidium culture, but there is little information on overwintering them indoors. What temperatures (day/night) do you give your cymbidium Indoors in winter? What months does it spend indoors?
    Right now we are experiencing good temp swing between day and night. 55 night/80 during the day. But come October, they will be moved indoors and I won't be able to provide this dramatic of a temperature difference. In your experience, is the outdoor temp swing enough to initiate spiking? If you could explain the environment you create for them in the winter I would be so grateful.
    -Caleb
    cjohns8 @ gmail . com

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  2. Caleb, I've almost given up on orchids. Not that they are difficult, because here they are pretty easy. It's just that I've moved on.

    Cymbidiums like cool weather. Mine are still outdoors, and I move them inside when frost is near. Then I keep them in an unheated but sunny room. Watching now and then, they usually bloom midwinter. I don't know about your local temperature variations, but cympbidiums are pretty tolerant to variability.

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    Replies
    1. Cymbidiums are really the only orchid that interest me. Glad you kept a few!
      Do you grow temperature tolerant verities or the cool growing standards? Over the summer I acquired several heat tolerant varieties (HTC) bred and Flowered in Florida, Hawaii and Thailand. From the limited info online I've come to understand that these guys don't require the chill period(or perhaps less of it)... but curious to know if they will sulk in the cooler temps loved by the standards.

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    2. Caleb, min are all cool growers. Not by planning, but over the years from time to time, I've mostly bought them on impulse at Trader Joes or the grocery store, at a time of year when not much else brightened the house. I suspect that the heat loving types wont do as well in a cool setting, but sometimes I try things despite not knowing. The Yamamoto dendrobiums that I've grown are bred in Japan and Hawaii, but do very well here.

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