Plant of the Month - Cymbidium (Balkis x Rosanna Easton)

Cymbidium (Balkis x Rosanna Easton), February 2024 lights/windowsill-grown Plant of the Month

Photo courtesy of Katie Payeur

An interview with the grower, John Adams.

By John Hockberger

John, you had the honor of winning Plant of the Month for your Cymbidium. What is the plant’s taxonomical name?

John Adams — Cym. Balkis 'Nevada' x Cym. Rosanna Easton #2 'Perfect'

Tell us a little about your plant. When and how did you first get it?

John Adams — This plant is a hybrid. I purchased it from a grower in Hawaii by the name of Bob Harris. Around three years ago I discovered a group out in California that grows Cymbidiums, the Gold Coast Cymbidium Society, and decided to check them out. They had a lot of information so I joined them and I’ve been meeting with them on zoom ever since. I found out they (Cymbidiums) grow like crazy there because they can grow outdoors all the way from northern California down to southern California. 

Cymbidiums love the San Francisco Bay area because they get high humidity, cool evenings and not hot, but warm daytime.  The only thing they have to watch out for is if they have a cold snap and they have to cover them. 

How big was this plant when you first got it? 

John Adams — It was blooming size in a 6 inch pot. I don’t recall if I’ve repotted it yet. 

How long ago did you get it?

John Adams — A little over a year ago and this is the first time it bloomed for me. 

Is there anything in particular about this plant that you simply love?

John Adams — I like the red color for one thing, and I love the size of the blooms. It’s got three spikes on it and about 7 or 8 flowers per spike. I like showy, big orchids. 

What are your growing conditions for this plant? 

John Adams — All my orchids go outside in the summertime. I move them out in May when the nighttime temperature gets no lower than the 40’s, starting with the Cymbidiums because they like the cooler weather. Then as the temps get higher I move the other ones out until October or so when nighttime temps drop into the low 40s. They get mottled sunlight. 

I made a big advance when Barry Lubin gave a talk about five years ago - the same talk he gave a couple months ago, and I started following his recommendation to add some LED lighting in that room…and fans. A big problem I had in the beginning was a high degree of humidity in that room, which ruined a few window frames! 

Last summer I contracted with a Wisconsin greenhouse company and they built a greenhouse for me with southern exposure by my walk-out basement. I had trouble with the humidity level and heater in early winter. We got it solved in December, but I decided to keep this plant indoors on the windowsill where it was happy for the previous 9 months. 

What is the plant’s the bloom cycle?

John Adams — Cymbidiums only bloom once a year. Usually they will rest in the warmer weather and bloom in the cooler weather. Some will bloom in October and others start to spike mid-December and bloom in January (like this one).

Do you consider Cymbidiums easy to grow, intermediate, or one of the more difficult plants?

John Adams — They’re pretty easy to grow, actually. Getting them to bloom is something else. I’ve been pretty lucky. One year I accidentally left them outside kind of late. We had a cold snap and I think the cold is what triggered them to bloom. 

Cymbidiums don’t like to be completely dry like Cattleyas do. They like to be kept moist but with good drainage. In the summer, I hardly water them at all. They love the rain in the summer so I only water if they need a little fertilizer or if it hasn’t rained in a while.

So when it’s indoors, do you water once a week or more? 

John Adams — Once a week and I fertilize weakly, weekly with water soluble MSU (Michigan State University) fertilizer at about 1/4 of the recommended dose. The only variance is when I first move them outside in the summer I give them a higher nitrogen mixture to promote foliage growth. I do that through the summer, then switch back to the MSU mixture when I bring them indoors in the fall. That seems to work.

If somebody is looking at this plant and wondering whether to give it a try, is there anything in particular that you would tell them about this plant that would help them?

John Adams — Well this particular one likes cool growing conditions. Keep it out of direct sun. It does like light, though. Now that I have the greenhouse, I’m learning about shade cloth. I’m using about 50% shade cloth whereas out in California they use 70%. 

You gotta have room. They’re a huge plant. Where you have four or five Cymbidiums you might be able to have 10 or 12 Paphs or Phalaenopsis. Maybe that’s why they’re so hard to find around here, but size shouldn’t keep people from having one or two them if they like them. I just love the large blooms and I’ve got the room now with the greenhouse now so I’m gonna grow Cymbidiums!