An illustrated guide to front-culm and back-culm orchid shoots, easy enough for beginners to understand

An illustrated guide to front-culm and back-culm shoots. Regarding front culms and back culms, Haoshe Nongfu wrote an article about this before, but recently a netizen asked about it again, so Haoshe Nongfu will use illustrations once more to explain front-culm and back-culm shoots in orchids. This kind of explanation, I believe, even orchid-growing beginners can understand. It is very simple.

This is a Cymbidium goeringii (spring orchid) that Haoshe Nongfu grows himself. It was divided in April this year. At that time this pot of orchids had more than ten shoots; the oldest was an old collected stump, and the newest were new shoots produced last year. I divided this pot of orchids into 6 pots, among which some had only the old stump planted alone and some had only vigorous mature shoots planted alone.

The picture above shows the old stump planted alone. The shoots produced by an old stump are generally what we call back-culm shoots. This is because orchids normally produce shoots in a pattern where one generation produces the second generation, and the second generation produces the third generation. Theoretically, orchid shoots get stronger with each generation, so those produced from the third generation to the fourth generation are back-culm shoots. If at the same time the first generation also produces a new shoot, that new shoot is a back-culm shoot.

Under normal circumstances, back-culm shoots are relatively weak, exactly the opposite of strong front-culm shoots. This is because their mother plants are different, so the nutrients they receive from the shoot-bearing stage are also different. To put it vividly, the mother of a back-culm shoot is already elderly, while the mother of a front-culm shoot is young.

But there are exceptions. After Haoshe Nongfu divided this pot of orchids, the front-culm shoots produced by vigorous shoots were indeed very sturdy. But the back-culm shoots produced by the old stump were not weak either, at least much stronger than their mother. If this pot of orchids had not been divided, this old stump could not have produced back-culm shoots, because the nutrients supplied by the vigorous mature front-culm shoots mainly go to their own new shoots, and there are not more nutrients available to supply the old stump for shoot production.

Using pictures, Haoshe Nongfu explains front-culm shoots and back-culm shoots this way. Can you understand it? If you still do not understand, remember one sentence: front-culm shoots always point forward in the direction of orchid shoot growth; the direction of back-culm shoots is the opposite, contrary to the normal growth direction of orchid shoots.

Netizens, do you have any better additions? You are welcome to share.