How to Grow Cymbidium faberi? A Detailed Guide to Its Growth Habits and Care Techniques

1. Cymbidium faberi has the important habit of "loving sunlight and fearing shade." Its native habitats are mostly on mountain tops or upper slopes at higher elevations, with ample light. The ancients said: "Orchids grow in shade, Cymbidium faberi grows in sun." Therefore, when cultivating Cymbidium faberi at home, attention must be paid to solving the light problem and setting up a similar ecological environment for it. Place the pot in a sunny position facing southeast, so that it enjoys ample sunlight year-round. Except in summer and early autumn, when a shade net should be used to block the scorching sun around midday, sunlight can be allowed in all other seasons to enhance photosynthesis, accelerate nutrient production, and promote plant growth. Practice has proved that more sunlight can strengthen the plant, promote root development, widen the leaves, thicken the veins, shorten the leaves, and increase flowering. With weak light, Cymbidium faberi will develop poorly. It is prone to collapse and difficult to flower. Only with suitable light can the orchid grow verdant and full of vitality.

2. Cymbidium faberi has the habit of needing relatively more nutrients than other orchids. Its pseudobulbs are small and store relatively few nutrients, while its leaves are numerous and long, consuming correspondingly more nutrients. In addition, while Cymbidium faberi sends up new shoots, the old plants are still growing new leaves, consuming even more nutrients. Coarse potting medium has poor water- and fertilizer-retention capacity, so meeting normal growth needs is difficult. In the natural environment, Cymbidium faberi relies on its well-developed root system to absorb nutrients from the earth to meet its own growth needs. In nurseries and home cultivation, restricted by flower pots, it cannot give full play to the advantages of its well-developed root system, and the favorable conditions of nature are gone entirely. It must rely on increased fertilization to supplement nutrients. Potted Cymbidium faberi requires more fertilizer than other orchid species. The fertilizer applied should be twice as concentrated as that for Cymbidium goeringii (Spring Orchid). At the same time, various elements must be scientifically combined, and dilute fertilizer should be applied frequently. Relying on its own thick and well-developed root system to absorb nutrients from the potting medium, plus appropriate foliar feeding (spraying fertilizer on leaves), for example, a fertilizer solution of monopotassium phosphate at 2/1000 can often be used to spray the leaves. A 2/1000 glucose solution can also be used and sprayed on the leaves and seedlings as if it were clean water; it is quite effective. In 10 days, the leaves will show a glossy color and become thicker and wider. If fertilized at the same level as Cymbidium goeringii, Cymbidium faberi cannot be accelerated in propagation and grow sturdily. Exceptions are old, weak, diseased seedlings, and newly collected Cymbidium faberi that have not yet adapted to the pot; these should mainly be grown with plain care.

3. Cymbidium faberi has the characteristics of thick and long roots, tall plants, and high basal nodes. Therefore, potted Cymbidium faberi is suitable for large, deep pots and deep planting cultivation to meet the growth requirements of its roots. Practice has proved that deep planting is better than shallow planting: the new shoots produced are stronger and flowering is easier.

4. Cymbidium faberi has a longer growth cycle than other orchid species. Newly collected Cymbidium faberi grows slowly. First, this is related to the relatively poor soil of its native habitat. Second, when orchid plants are dug from the mountain, the roots are severely damaged; after collection, the time from storage and transport to replanting is long, nutrient consumption is great, and vitality is badly weakened. It must go through a fairly long care cycle to recover its vitality. This is why newly collected Cymbidium faberi takes a correspondingly slow and long time to adapt to the pot. Generally speaking, it takes two to three years for new buds from potted plants to become mature seedlings, and only after more than one year can Cymbidium faberi enter its best growth period; some even take two to three years to adapt to the pot. Therefore, after planting Cymbidium faberi, it is advisable to repot it less often. During repotting, the root system is prone to dehydration in a short period, and a relatively large number of roots will be damaged. The process of roots combining with the medium during adaptation to the pot also requires a relatively long time, so a relatively long recovery period will occur. Therefore, one must not be too impatient; one should wait until the new seedlings of the orchid mature and grow new roots and adapt to the pot before repotting. Because the time for adaptation to the pot and repotting is long, when repotting and replanting, fresh potting medium must be replaced to ensure the fertilizer supply of the medium.

5. Cymbidium faberi has stronger cold tolerance than other orchid species. It grows on high mountains at higher elevations and lower temperatures than other orchids, generally around 1000 m, and often endures temperatures below 0°C, giving it an instinctive cold resistance. After being collected from the mountain, it inherits cold-resistant genetic factors to a certain extent, and its cold tolerance is much stronger than that of other orchid species. Therefore, in winter it can be brought indoors later; generally, it is brought into the orchid room for freeze protection when the temperature is below zero. In early spring, it can be taken out earlier than other orchids; it can be taken out once the temperature is above zero. Give it the tempering of cold tolerance. According to its cold-tolerant characteristics, during the slow-growth period of leaf buds, which is the formation period of flower primordia, strive to keep the temperature no higher than 23°C. During the growth dormancy period in winter and early spring, which is the growth and development period of flower buds, strive to keep the temperature no higher than 15°C. When the temperature in the orchid room reaches above 15°C, all doors and windows of the orchid room need to be opened to facilitate ventilation and cooling and to satisfy the temperature necessary for reproductive growth. In addition, I once conducted a cold-tolerance experiment: I placed an ordinary pot of Cymbidium faberi outside the south balcony for the entire winter (avoiding the severe northwest wind of winter). The lowest outdoor temperature was about minus 50, and in early spring it sprouted and grew as usual and was not frozen to death (some old leaves had withered tips), which fully shows how strong its cold tolerance is (climate of the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions). This was an experiment; in severe winter, it is still best to bring it indoors.

6. Cymbidium faberi has the habit of liking clustered growth. Because the pseudobulbs are small and store few nutrients, it is suitable for multiple plants to grow in clusters. When repotting, dividing, and replanting, the potted plants must not be fewer than 3 connected seedlings; more is even better. It is not suitable to cultivate a single plant. Single-plant cultivation is prone to seedling collapse, and even if it survives, the new shoots it sends up afterward are still weak seedlings. Practice has proved this: I tried cultivating one pot as a single plant. Although it survived, in the first year after survival it produced one small shoot, and in the second year it produced two branches that were still small shoots. The new leaves were only just over 10 cm tall. Who knows how many years it would take to regain vigor and bloom?

7. Cymbidium faberi has the habit of requiring relatively high ventilation. Because it natively mostly grows on hillsides at higher elevations where mountain winds blow fiercely, it has developed the habit of requiring more ventilation than other orchids. Therefore, when growing Cymbidium faberi, one should pay even more attention to ventilation than with other orchids. When placing it indoors for cultivation, electric fans and exhaust fans can be installed to help exhaust air and improve ventilation. If conditions permit, it is best to place it on an outdoor rack or cultivate it in a garden. The ancients said: ventilation is the first principle of orchid cultivation. For Cymbidium faberi, this saying is even more important.

8. Cymbidium faberi has the habit of requiring relatively lower air humidity and being drought-tolerant and relatively flood-resistant. It grows in places with higher elevation, relatively less rainfall, and stronger sunlight, where air humidity is very low. To adapt to the drier native environment, its leaves have many and dense vascular bundles, and the leaves are leathery, firm, and have little flesh. It requires relatively lower air humidity and is drought-tolerant and strongly flood-resistant. Therefore, for potted Cymbidium faberi, the usual moisture level is best kept moist but on the drier side (slightly drier than Cymbidium goeringii). Environmental humidity can be lower than for other orchid species without harm; air humidity should not be lower than 40%.

9. Others. ① Because the leaves of Cymbidium faberi are firm, thick, and hard, with many and dense vascular bundles, fertilization should emphasize the application of phosphorus and potassium fertilizers; ② The day-night temperature difference should be large; strive to keep the day-night temperature difference at around 10 degrees, which is beneficial for storing nutrients and producing buds at the right time; ③ The placement of the orchid pot should be stable; do not move it east and west; ④ The potting medium should be coarser than for other orchid species (generally speaking: thick roots, coarse particles; fine roots, fine particles). This is of great benefit to strong seedlings of Cymbidium faberi.

In summary: newly collected Cymbidium faberi has these characteristics: it likes light and fears shade, likes ventilation and fears being closed in, likes looseness and fears compaction, likes fertilizer and fears strong concentration, likes clustered growth and fears single division, likes being on the drier side and fears dampness, likes temperature differences and fears muggy heat, likes deep planting, and dislikes frequent repotting. By creating a corresponding ecological environment for it according to these habits, cultivating Cymbidium faberi is not difficult. There is a saying: "Planting an orchid takes a few minutes, growing an orchid takes years of skill; as long as you understand its habits, the more you grow, the more successful you become." I hope orchid enthusiasts, in the process of cultivating Cymbidium faberi, will figure out its habits, increase their cultivation experience, and surely succeed in growing it.