How to care for orchids (cymbidiums) so their blooms reach their full potential

    How to make cymbidium blooms reach their full potential. As the saying goes: "It is hard to get cymbidiums to bloom, and even harder to get them to produce fine flowers." Making orchids bloom better has thus become the eternal goal pursued by orchid growers. So how can orchid blooms be brought to their full potential? I believe six key elements are required.

     1. The growing medium for orchids must have complete nutrients. The flowering and fruiting of plants requires large amounts of nutrients, and orchids are no exception. Although a good orchid bloom is brought about by many factors, a growing medium with complete nutrients is the precondition. For thousands of years most orchid growers have preferred to use orchid soil to grow cymbidiums and cultivate orchids; when planted and cared for properly, the flowers are large, the color is true, and the delicate fragrance spreads in all directions, fully displaying the captivating elegance of famous cymbidium varieties. Although the traditional orchid-growing method has drawbacks such as difficulty in controlling dryness and moisture, insufficient cleanliness, and being prone to breeding pests, because it has complete nutrients and suits orchid growth, the flowers produced under the same conditions are of better quality, and even today many people still delight in it tirelessly. Times move forward; to overcome the shortcomings of orchid soil, modern people mostly use granular growing media and various nutrient solutions to grow orchids, which is a great advance in history. Its shortcoming is that the nutrients are incomplete, which affects the orchid's bloom quality. I think the best approach is to grow orchids with a mixture of orchid soil and granular growing media, so that the advantages complement each other, giving the best results.

     2. Before flowering, light must be sufficient. As the saying goes: "All things grow relying on the sun." Sunlight is the power source for orchids to carry out photosynthesis and manufacture nutrients, and is an essential condition for prompting cymbidiums to enter reproductive growth. Although orchids are shade-loving plants, that does not mean they do not need light. At one time, because of a one-sided understanding of orchids being shade-loving, people often placed orchids in places with very little light; unable to get enough of the power source of photosynthesis, they could not manufacture sufficient nutrients, and the orchids generally grew thin and weak. Generally speaking, with sufficient light the orchid plant accumulates more nutrients in its body and the flower buds develop fully; if light is insufficient, although the plant grows luxuriantly, because it manufactures fewer nutrients the orchid rarely blooms, and even if it does bloom, it does not bloom well. Therefore, appropriately increasing light before flowering, and letting orchids bask in the sun more during the three seasons of spring, autumn and winter, is a necessary condition for orchids to bloom and release fragrance on schedule and for the blooms to reach their full potential.

     3. The temperature difference between day and night must be large. The growth of orchids is a unity of photosynthesis and respiration. On the one hand, during the day the orchid plant continuously manufactures nutrients through photosynthesis; on the other hand, the orchid plant also carries out respiration day and night without stopping, consuming nutrients. The higher the temperature, the more nutrients are consumed; the lower the temperature, the fewer nutrients are consumed. Only when the nutrients manufactured by photosynthesis exceed the nutrients consumed by respiration does the orchid accumulate more nutrients in its body, and only then does it bloom fully and to its full potential. Therefore, no matter which method is used to grow orchids, at night the ventilation and air flow of the growing site must be strengthened, and every effort must be made to keep the day-night temperature difference at around 10 degrees. Practice has proven that an appropriate temperature difference is a necessary condition for ensuring a good orchid bloom.

     4. Vernalization must be sufficient. The reproductive growth of cymbidiums must go through a period of low-temperature vernalization before they can bloom profusely on schedule; we cannot go against this. The winter temperature for wild cymbidiums is generally between 0 and 15 degrees; although the orchid seedlings do not grow, the flower buds continuously grow and plump up, accumulating nutrients in preparation for the need to bloom. This is an unavoidable stage that cymbidiums must pass through to bloom. If the winter temperature is on the high side and vernalization is insufficient, cymbidiums will show bud blasting; even if they bloom, the bloom quality is poor. Only after sufficient vernalization do the flower buds develop fully and the blooms appear spirited and lively.

     5. Watering must be timely. During the flowering season, improper watering can also affect the quality of the bloom. For orthodox petal-type flowers, it is mostly suitable to water thoroughly before the flowers open, so that during the flowering season the potting soil is moist with a slight dryness, letting them "bloom dry," so the bloom quality is dignified and does not lose its shape. For example, when Dayipin and Xizi bloom, only when the potting soil is moist with a slight dryness does the bloom quality reach its full potential. Strange flowers are the opposite; they should bloom wet, otherwise the bloom quality can hardly fully display its distinctive features. 6. Buds should be thinned appropriately. To let the flowers reach their full potential, one should also follow the principle of removing the weak and keeping the strong and thin the buds appropriately; this is especially necessary for varieties with multiple flowers on one stem and for strange-flower varieties, as this can concentrate the nutrients supplied to the flower buds, so that when the flowers open they are large, full of spirit, and of good charm.