Cymbidium Orchids

Anybody growing these outside? If so, please give me all your advice: What type of pot? What is growing medium? Exposure to sun? Feeding? Watering? Anything else? Thanks!

I have a couple, my Dad has several and I see them around here all the time, all outside.
A quick Google search can give you all the care instructions like the link I found here.

http://www.beautifulorchids.com/orchids/orchids_potted/cymbidium/care.html

We have a bunch in pots outside .
1 . Orchid bark and supersoil when we repot . Lava rock on bottom 1 inch .
2 . To feed I mist till drops of water run off with miracle grow , Schules , [ with supertrive ] this year started using messanger and mighty plant .
3 . If you get water on flowers it causes ugly spots - even misting causes the spots on flowers .
4 . When flowering , I use a cheap watering can with long spout but you can use a $1 turkey baster . [ I buy them 6 at a time - ever get to much snail food or poison in one spot ? the turkey baster will blow it all over , move a little water from here to there ETC .
5 . When repotting , I soak pot with orchids in 1 gallon of water with a bottle of H202 [ 2 for a dollar at longs , walgreens . rite-aid , dollar store ] .
6 . Orchids like to be crowded in a pot and I only do the splitting of crowed plants every 3 or 4 years .
7 . 2 or 3 times a year , I soak pot with orchids in 1 gallon of water with a bottle of H202 [ 2 for a dollar at longs , walgreens . rite-aid , dollar store ] .
8 . I cut about 6 inches off an empty 5 gallon paint buckets and let soak for an hour or so . This helps any roots that were hurt or rotting . dump the used water in flower bed .
9 . I use tomato baskets to support the leaves . Put orchid pot inside tomato basket , pull basket up and either bend legs under pot or slide inside pot .
10 . In the winter , I use Xmas lites [ net lights ] and put a sheet or blanket over top top [ tomato baskets help support sheet but you can add the little bamboo sticks . ]
11 . If it is going to freeze , I have some metal lamp things they sell at Home depot - you can put from 7 1/2 watt to 60 watt bulbs in them for heat at night . [ I buy the 25 watt ones at the dollar store for a buck . ] Tie bamboo sticks to tomato baskets with the little wire ties on bread or use string .
12 . there is no rhyme or reason for numbers except for someone to say #13 is wrong and I would do this , or -- I would add *** to #--- .
13 . Just because something works for me doesn't mean it's right or wrong , just that it works for me until I change it .
GOOD LUCK - A good place to buy orchids is your local farmers market - @ least here .

Wow! Now that's what I'm looking for! Actual info on growing outside! Oh, BTW, what is H2O2? I water with a hose. Is that a problem? What kind of pots do you use? How much sun do they get? What can be done about the brown spots and streaks (see pic below)? When do yours bloom? Thanks!

I grow mine outside on my front porch here in Modesto , but when I lived in Costa Mesa I grew them on my patio under a shady tree. They got dappled sun, so they bloomed great. They will love your climate in Orange! I use bagged "Orchid Bark", and fertilize with the two 6-month fertilizers (use one for 6 months, then use the other to promote bloom, the bottles tell you how). Tony's advice above sounds great, it never froze in winter when I lived in Costa Mesa because I was only a mile from the beach. Here, my winters get to 25 degrees on average, sometimes lower. I never put lights on them because they are sheltered by the porch overhang.

K

gardenerme--H2O2 is hydrogen peroxide, you can buy it at any drugstore, usually it's in the first aid section.

We grow them outside in hanging baskets. They do superbly. Chicken wire baskets lined with moss, filled with bark, topped off with cactus mix soil periodically. They have adapted beautifully and are hanging off of the deck roof on the north side of the house in San Jose. Cymbidiums are tough rascals.
Dave

dave549: Wow! Great info! Do you make your own chickenwire baskets? do you have to replace the moss every year? How often do you water in the summer heat. How much sun do they get? Is it filtered? Do you feed them? What do you feed them, how often, tell me all dave 549. I'm lovin' it. I want to move mine to baskets!

Gardenerme, will try to keep this sensible and as brief as possible.

First, the move from pots to hanging baskets was to find a non chemical way of dealing with slugs and snails. Alas, this does work very well. We wanted the orchids in the back yard and we have Schipperkes. Our yard MUST BE canine friendly. Secondly, as with all of our plants, we try to replicate natural growing conditions as much as possible. Thirdly, before we get to the nitty gritty details, in gardening as in life, there are 100 different ways to do something and 95 of them are no doubt good and honorable and work well. The hanging basket technique for cymbidiums has worked well for us for over 10 years now. We are in Sunset Zone 15 and always push the Zone envelope by taking advantage of different micro climates in our yards. The successfully growning in hanging baskets orchids are on the north side of the house so in the summer receive about 2 hours of direct sunlight right after sunrise and about 3 hours of direct sunlight just before sunset. In the winter, they receive very minimal direct sunlight. The ambient warmth of the deck successfully obviates the coldest temps of winter. When we do get frost or even a light freeze, it exists for a minimal about of time so the cold does not damage cells of orchids. When we are anticipating one of these very cold nights, we make sure the orchid baskets are watered throroughly the previous evening.

Baskets: never have replaced the moss. Have added orchid mix bark and cactus mix soil at the top when it seems right to do so. When it was absolutely necessary to enlarge a basket, then we built our own larger basket around the existing one with layers of bark and moss in between so as not to disturb any roots. The orchids send roots into the new area/ mix.
Fertilizing is with various soluable products. The key here for us has been weakly weekly. Most carefull about frequency for a couple of months after bloom when the new offset plants are developing. Watering: as needed. Which means for us turning on the drip irrigation system (all of our hanging plants are on a drip irrigation system) every morning very early for an hour or so during the hot days and maybe every 3rd or 4th day other times. When it gets into the middle 90's here (which is rare) we myst twice a day.

Hope this helps. Dave

Yup! That's exactly what I needed! Can't wait to do the same thing you are doing. Thanks so much!

I like your way of just potting up around the old wire & moss, Dave. Great idea and I bet the plants really appreciate not being disturbed!

K