I ordered this orchid at the same time as the angraecum leonis, and at one point I was afraid I had nearly killed it.
The cymbidium arrived very root bound, and in the repotting process I ended up disrupting many of its bountiful roots in an attempt to clear away old potting media. A week after I had repotted, most of the roots left on the plant had rotted away from the damage, and the orchid started losing leaves from its oldest pseudobulb at an alarming rate. I ended up having to repot the orchid a second time into the smallest pot I own, and cut away all but 2 or 3 short roots.
Several months and another repotting later, the orchid has made a sharp recovery. New roots grew in at an astonishing pace, and the orchid is now very confortably potted with plenty room to grow.
Since making its recovery, the orchid has also produced 3 new growths of indeterminate nature. With cymbidiums, it is often nearly impossible to distinguish flower spikes from leaves at the early stages. Currently, the orchid is sporting 1 growth that is clearly fated to produce leaves, and 2 that I am less certain about. One of these growths first appeared in late September, and has remained cryptic and completely unchanged ever since. The other two I've only noticed a few weeks ago.
flower spike or leaves?
a month later, still mysterious
new sprouts: two in front, and the leaf growth hiding in back
I still think it unlikely to produce flowers for me this season, but I am very excited by the amount of growth this plant has shown recently, as well as its tenacious recovery from my clumsy early repotting attempts earlier this year.
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