In for the Winter

I moved my Cymbidiums into the basement tonight for their Winter season. We've had some light rain and/or overcast skies for several days now, with more light rain forecasted for the weekend. After that, the forecast is for below 30F nighttime lows, which combined with the saturated media would not be good for the Cyms.

Over half of the Cyms are in spike, and I am hopeful that the remaining will generate inflorescences in another month or so. I have a number of seedling crosses that are expected (should be mature enough) to bloom this year. Cym. mastersii, Cym. Eastern Bunny 'Oborozuki', and Cym. (lowio-mastersii x Summer Sands) have buds that have just cleared their sheaths. I'll be posting photos as the flowers open up.

I had noticed that some of my Cym. devonianum and devonianum hybrids were potted too low beneath the pot's edge, which will prevent the inflorescences from clearing the pot. So, I raised those plants "needing a lift" out of their pots such that the base of the pseudobulbs is now a half inch or so above the pot's edge. I had seen this "lifting" practiced while visiting Top Hat Orchids in Richmond, CA this last Spring. It was a good thing for me to do because, while doing so, I noticed that both Cym. Langlyense 'Cascades' and Cym. Miss Muffet 'Julie Sato' were developing multiple spikes beneath the media. These plants were on my potential discard list because they haven't flowered for me for a couple of years. But now, I have an explanation why I wasn't seeing any flowers, and I'm hopeful that the little spikes I saw will fully mature.