FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

My wife loves cymbidiums and has tried to grow them a two or three times in the past and they have died. She's a pro with phalaenopsis and her oncidiums have done well but for some reason she hasn't been able to grow cymbidiums. Well I just found one at the grocery store for a good deal, so I got it for her and I want to try to help her with this one and I want to understand what went wrong in the past.

We have given them bright sunlight indoors. I've been reading that they like to be kept moist, but they also need an airy medium that allows their damp roots to breath? She has tried both leaving it in the pot they it came in and repotting immediately and in both cases found that almost all of the roots were thin (like hollow) and kind of rubbery yet papery. Treating it like a phal, she would clip off the dead roots and put it into a BetterGro orchid bark mix (or something like that...it has bark, perlite, charcoal, & compressed peat chunks) where they slowly declined and died.

So I'm thinking the media they come in are too dense and cause root rot. Then when she repotted, she probably kept them too dry since the orchid bar mix barely retains any moisture. Additionally, without any roots and being indoors without high humidity, they probably just dehydrated themselves to death?

So would it be best to repot immediately into a media of bark plus either some peat moss or sphagnum moss (I've seen both used online) to keep it a little bit moister and then to water once or twice a week - whenever the media is becoming dry (like a flytrap). It seems pretty healthy on top, but if roots are already rotted, should we cut off the dead ones and bag it?

Does anyone recognize the species or hybrid?

If they like to moist I would try a 60/40 mix of spag and bark. You can also prop them up on something and put a tray of water under them to help with humidity.

For Cymbidiums, I use this stuff right out of the bag. It's more like a soil than a bark mix. I grow mine outside in full sun, but I live on the Northern California coast where the weather is cooler. Good luck!

http://www.ebstone.org/products/eb-stone-organics
E.B. Stone Orchid Mix is a coarse potting mix specifically formulated for the unique growing requirements of orchids. Contains: Fir Bark, Lava Rock, Aged Redwood and Sand. For arboreal Orchids use our Orchid Bark.
Available Sizes
12 Quart | 1.5 Cu. Ft.

Here's some good info: http://www.aos.org/orchids/culture-shee ... idium.aspx