Building a Cymbidium Collection

by Noe Smith

Prior to taking up the hobby, I'd often admire orchids, particularly Cymbidiums, anywhere I saw them and wonder at how long the flowers lasted. At some stage a friend gave me a few Cymbidium plants and somehow, within a year, I had a full shade house. Like most new growers, I had no idea about the plants I was buying, or being given – some I hadn't seen in flower and, thinking back, never did! Some of those plants in my early collection were old hybrids, some of which were in poor condition, too – some were diseased and others came with shrivelled bulbs and no roots. As a novice grower I didn't know enough to get them back to a healthy state and they quickly died.

If this sounds familiar, or you are just beginning a Cymbidium collection, then hopefully what you're about to read will help you to build a collection which will encourage you and reward you.

As you're reading this article, you may have joined a club already. If not, I'd recommend that you do and attend meetings (if possible) as well. A specialist Cymbidium club will provide access to experienced growers who will teach you about culture and give you the opportunity to acquire good quality Cymbidiums. By good quality I don't necessarily mean expensive show-winning plants, but rather well-grown, healthy, free-flowering types which, given reasonable care and attention, will provide you with flowers to enjoy.

I've always had a strong belief that novice growers need good healthy plants from day one. Some people adopt the view that any old things will do as a new grower will likely kill them anyway. Certainly a new grower may lose a few plants but, in general, Cymbidiums are hard to kill and will often survive poor culture for a surprisingly long time (which is a plus for someone on a learning curve); beginning with good, healthy plants increases the chances of success compared to starting out with suspect plants.

This article isn't really intended as a cultural guide for beginners; perhaps the best tip for new growers is to obtain a cultural sheet from their club (most Cymbidium clubs have one) that should relate to growing conditions in your general environment. With a start provided by proven methods, one should be able to quickly gain encouraging results and, after a while, the confidence to vary your growing conditions to suit your specific location (once enough is learned to assess other options). That's not to say that alternative cultural methods will give better results, but at least the ability to make informed decisions about either making changes or staying with what you already know won't end in disaster.

Novice Growers

Building a Cymbidium collection for most novice growers (and many who've been growing them for a long time too, I might add) is usually a haphazard affair. Plants are purchased on impulse because the flowers were irresistible, or the description in a catalogue sounded interesting, or perhaps another grower advised that you must have such-and-such a plant. All of these avenues are fine, but what often happens is that you end up with a collection with a limited colour or size range, or all your plants tend to flower over a limited period during the entire growing season (you may notice that other growers have a range of plants that come into flower over many more months than yours do).

While your particular interests, in terms of Cymbidium types, may change over time (perhaps you'll develop a keen interest in competing on the show bench, for example), initially a collection of varied types, sizes, colours and flowering times is a worthwhile goal – bearing in mind that you should actually like the flowers, or there's not much point in growing them.

If you like miniature Cymbidiums, then, by all means, concentrate on them – or any other category that takes your fancy. If you’re not sure, then grow a mixed collection. Most people do, or at least keep a few favourites in other types besides their main interest. Try to visit orchid shows, particularly Cymbidium shows, and make notes about plants that catch your eye. Likewise, at monthly club meetings where flowering plants are benched, you can get a good look at them and ask about them. You'll find that some of the plants at shows or monthly meetings may not be available for sale anywhere, but don't be hesitant about asking or be upset if you're told you can't have it or a division of it (they might be newly-flowered seedlings for example) as it will most likely become available in the future if the owner doesn't have a particular purpose in mind for it and won't part with it. The vast majority of Cymbidium growers are generous and helpful and don't mind accommodating you if you are polite and can take no for an answer sometimes. Being pushy if you don't get what you want will only get you a reputation (and very few favours from anyone).

Luckily for new growers (or all of us for that matter), Cymbidiums are one of the genera that can be reproduced by mericloning, which means that large numbers of a desirable plant can be cloned to provide lots of basically identical plants reasonably quickly. Many nurseries carry good selections of mericlones of popular Cymbidiums that are often available in various sizes, from young single-growth plants to mature flowering-size ones. Mericlones are a good starting point when building a collection, as it's possible to obtain plants identical to those you've seen at shows, etcetera, so you know exactly what you are getting (though bear in mind that not every Cymbidium you see will be available as a mericlone).

There are in excess of 10,000 grexes registered and many, many more varieties of those in existence as well. However, as Cymbidium hybridising has been going on for over 100 years, many plants have passed into history or are just not being mericloned any more. Some varieties may only be available as divisions from other growers, if at all, but there are so many Cymbidiums currently available as mericlones that we're pretty well spoilt for choice. Apart from the fact that many of the newer ones are superior to earlier hybrids anyway, the true classics from the older types tend to be re-cloned fairly regularly.

Without getting too technical, it's probably appropriate to give a brief description of some of the more common terms used. Firstly, the registered name of an orchid is its grex name. For example, Ruby Eyes is the registered grex name of a hybrid combination of the two orchids that were its parents (floribundum X Sensation). To distinguish each flowered seedling of the Ruby Eyes grex from its siblings, a varietal (or clonal) name is also given; thus, 'Ruby Eyes' (the single quotation marks denoting the varietal name) is not the same as any other seedling flowered from the Ruby Eyes crossing – a "Christian name" if you will. Knowing the full name of an orchid you want is important, as you might not get the specific one you are after, just as a letter might not be delivered if you don't know the full address. Some of the seedling results from some hybrid crosses may grow better than others, have better flowers, or be a different colour, size or shape – just like the kids in any family you know – but mericlones offer a 99% certainty that you will know when they will open their flowers, how big the plants will grow, what the flowers will look like and what colour they will be. Likewise, a division of a plant you have seen will give the same certainty.

Seedlings

The other option for adding to your collection is to grow seedlings. In orchid terms, seedlings are the plants produced by crossing two parents – the pollen from one parent (pollen parent) is placed onto the stigma of the other parent (pod parent). Seedlings, like children or puppies, will vary across the range of available gene combinations from the parents and, although hybridising orchids is not an exact science, experience may allow a hybridiser to reasonably predict an outcome. Personally, I hope that everyone will grow a percentage of seedlings in their collection if they have the space. It's true that some of the seedlings grown will be a disappointment in some way and some won't even be worth keeping, but others will produce attractive and/or unique flowers that are exciting or gratifying in some way and the chance that a real stunner will flower for you is very real. No one can tell before a seedling flowers if it will be a show winner, an also-ran, or a dud, so it's a gamble every time, but the thrill of flowering a good one is a heck of a payoff.

There's an old saying that every mericlone was a seedling once. If new seedlings weren't being flowered, there wouldn't be any new mericlones and we'd all be growing species, so consider taking a chance on a few (or a lot) of seedlings. It keeps hybridisers busy making crosses to surprise and delight us all – a good thing.

Choosing seedlings to buy can be a daunting exercise in terms of which ones to pick. The best option when you're starting out is to pick those which are a combination of parents you know, or take advice from reliable and experienced growers you know and admire for the success they have with flowering seedling plants. These people will happily recommend crosses if they know what you are looking for, whether it be compact miniature types of particular colours or flowering times.

Where To Buy?

So, having armed yourself with some ideas about what sort of Cymbidiums you want to grow, where to do you look for them? The obvious answer is the best one – go to reputable nurseries and hybridisers, the people you read about in publications and orchid magazines, those who exhibit at major shows, or at your local Cymbidium club. Rely on the advice of club members you respect and ask where others get their plants from. It can be tempting to buy from chain store types of garden centres, weekend markets, driveway sales, or supermarkets, but beware – often these outlets sell orchids of dubious quality, usually without name tags, and are rarely cheap to boot.

They can often be in poor condition or may be diseased and can infect your whole collection if you are not aware of what you are buying. Occasionally responsible club members may sell plants at markets, etcetera, but if you don't know the seller it's safer to avoid purchasing plants from those places. Some garden centres and/or florists get their plants from reputable nurseries or breeders and, in those situations your decision to buy should be based on the overall look of the plant. If it appears to be as healthy as the plants you see at shows and meetings then, by all means, take the chance if you particularly like the flower.

I hope these observations will help in building a Cymbidium collection made up of productive and attractive plants you'll enjoy and be proud of. Good growing to all and welcome to a most rewarding hobby.

Noe Smith