Exploring Cymbidium faberi cultivation: planting methods and care experience

Cymbidium faberi, also known as the nine-segment orchid and the summer orchid, has vigorous, upright and elegant leaves that combine strength and grace, a graceful, slender stance, and a clear, far-reaching fragrance that refreshes the heart. For this reason it attracts countless orchid enthusiasts. Its masculine beauty and simple, honest beauty are favored by more and more people.

                  

        In the Cymbidium faberi "boom", the first problem people encounter is where to buy genuine, good-quality orchids. Fake and inferior goods now flood the market everywhere, and since Cymbidium faberi is a commodity, it is certainly no exception. Some pass off fakes as genuine, and some pass off inferior goods as good ones; the tricks are endless, with every kind of imposture, grafting of one thing onto another, and passing off fish eyes as pearls. When I started growing Cymbidium faberi, I was anxious for quick success and trusted the sweet talk of some orchid swindlers in Yongfu Town, Fujian, and other places, and for this I paid a heavy price, handing over no small amount of tuition. A fall into a pit, a gain in your wit. After that I learned my lesson and made up my mind to study how to identify Cymbidium faberi varieties, to carefully choose the targets and timing for buying orchids, and to go in person to buy from the creditworthy, highly reputable national orchid companies, specimen gardens, and reputable local large orchid growers, paying attention to choosing the flowering period so as to make it easier to judge the quality of the varieties and select robust large seedlings, so that the varieties and quality of the introduced Cymbidium faberi could be reliably guaranteed.

                   

        Once you have bought good orchids, the key is to grow them well, so they take root and sprout and produce good flowers. Quite a few orchid friends report that Cymbidium faberi is difficult to grow, and that "returned seedlings" introduced from abroad are especially difficult. Based on my explorations over these years, I feel that Cymbidium faberi is not harder to grow than Cymbidium goeringii; it has stronger vitality, tolerates both cold and drought, and can be managed relatively extensively. The key is to understand its characteristics and grasp its growth patterns.

                   

        Cymbidium faberi grows on sunny mountain slopes, with ample sunlight and good ventilation. The ancients said, "Orchids grow in shade, Cymbidium faberi grows in sun." Therefore, when growing Cymbidium faberi at home, attention must be paid to solving the light problem and creating a similar ecological environment for it. Place the orchid pot in a sunny position facing southeast, so that it enjoys ample sunlight all year round. Except in summer and early autumn, when a shade net must be used to block the scorching sun around midday, in the other seasons direct sunlight can be allowed, in order to enhance photosynthesis, speed up the manufacture of nutrients, and promote plant growth. Practice has shown that Cymbidium faberi likes sunlight even more than Cymbidium goeringii. Cymbidium faberi that regularly receives sunlight has robust plants, a high sprouting rate, and blooms easily. By contrast, Cymbidium faberi usually placed in dark corners where sunlight cannot reach grows poorly, has a low sprouting rate, weak disease resistance, and is also very hard to bring into flower. "Fond of sunlight, afraid of shade" is one of the characteristics of Cymbidium faberi.

                  

        Another characteristic of Cymbidium faberi is that its pseudobulbs are very small, while its leaves are more numerous and longer than those of Cymbidium goeringii. The pseudobulb is where the orchid stores nutrients; if the pseudobulb is small, the nutrients stored are relatively few, while the leaves are numerous and long, so the nutrients consumed are correspondingly greater. 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. Growing orchids at home is limited by the flowerpot and cannot give play to the advantages of a well-developed root system, so nutrients must be supplemented by frequent fertilization. Therefore, Cymbidium faberi should be fertilized more than Cymbidium goeringii, with various elements scientifically combined, applying thin fertilizer frequently, relying on its own root system to absorb nutrients in the growing medium, plus appropriate foliar feeding, spraying liquid fertilizer on the leaves to speed up the plant's nutrient absorption. If it is fertilized at the same level as Cymbidium goeringii, Cymbidium faberi cannot be made to multiply faster and grow sturdily. But it must not be given heavy, concentrated fertilizer either, lest it suffer fertilizer damage and become an attempt to help the seedlings grow by pulling them up, achieving the opposite of what was intended.

                  

        Yet another characteristic of Cymbidium faberi is that its roots are especially thick and strong, and the roots bear the heavy task of absorbing and transporting nutrients. As the saying goes, to grow orchids you must first grow roots. In order to ensure that the orchid roots get air and ventilation and grow healthily, and especially to connect with the original ecological environment of "returned seedlings", the growing medium must be loose, and the particles should be coarse rather than fine.

                  

        Of course, it is not that the coarser the better; sizes as large as soybean or mung bean are all suitable. I use a "three-in-one" growing medium of green Xiantu soil, crushed brick particles, and humus soil; it has strong permeability and also retains water and fertilizer, with fairly good results. But three points must be noted: first, the Xiantu soil must be soaked so that it is thoroughly penetrated, to help it retain moisture for a long time; second, the crushed brick particles must be rinsed to remove dust and to wear off the sharp edges and corners, avoiding pricking and injuring the orchid roots; third, the humus soil must be disinfected by exposure to the sun, with twigs, grass roots, stones and other impurities picked out, the powdery fine soil sieved away, and the granular soil left behind, mixed evenly with the Xiantu soil and crushed brick particles before use. Because Cymbidium faberi has vigorous roots, the orchid pot should be large and deep, generally a clay pot is best, so that its roots can spread out and grow. A purple clay pot is also acceptable; it is attractive in style and retains moisture well, but care must be taken to control watering.

                  

        When using clay pots and granular growing medium, water more; when using purple clay pots and humus soil material, water somewhat less. Cymbidium faberi has another characteristic: it likes to grow in clumps and does not like being divided singly. Dividing the pot too much is unfavorable to the growth of the orchid plants. Robust Cymbidium goeringii seedlings can still survive as single plants, but Cymbidium faberi has small pseudobulbs and is very difficult to propagate as single plants; even if it barely survives, it grows smaller and smaller the longer it is kept, and it is very hard for it to bloom in the short term, so the result is not worth the loss. I cultivate Cymbidium faberi according to these characteristics - fond of sunlight, afraid of shade; fond of ventilation, afraid of being closed in; fond of looseness, afraid of compaction; fond of fertilizer, afraid of concentration; fond of clumping, afraid of single division - providing an environment relatively suited to its ecological requirements, so that Cymbidium faberi grows sturdily. Last March, I introduced 3 seedlings of Lao Ran Zi and 4 seedlings of Lao Ji Pin from elsewhere, and they quickly sent out new roots and produced flower buds that same year. Then I successively introduced traditional famous varieties such as Nanyang Mei, Qinghua Mei, and Xin Ji Pin. In addition, from large orchid growers such as Jin Dingxian of Shaoxing, Liang Pinfu of Hangzhou, and Xie Caifu of Xinchang, I bought varieties such as Duan Hui Mei, Da Yi Pin, and Jie Pei Mei; the varieties were true and reliable, and they all grew fairly sturdily. While introducing traditional famous varieties, I was even more keen on discovering rare new varieties from locally collected wild orchids. Last March I collected 3 seedlings of a multi-petal, multi-column plum-form unusual flower collected in this county, naming it "Sa Jin Bao"; that same year it produced 5 seedlings, I exchanged 3 seedlings with orchid friends, and this year it produced another 3 seedlings, so there are now 8 robust seedlings. At the same time, the 4 seedlings of the plum-form narcissus "Qiao Yun" that I bought have also grown to 7 seedlings, and moreover have bloomed, with 13 flowers on one stem, and the flower quality is better than when it was collected. The 2 seedlings of Cymbidium faberi Ruizidie bought the year before last have now grown to 8 seedlings and have also rebloomed. In addition, there are some new Cymbidium faberi varieties with lotus-petal, plum-petal, and butterfly flowers collected successively, all growing fairly vigorously, with sprouting rates generally above 70%.