Cymbidium Billion Dollar Baby '#1' x Gordon Gibbs 'Dashing'

Cymbidium Billion Dollar Baby '#1' x Gordon Gibbs 'Dashing'

     I'm posting about this orchid today, not because it has done anything worth updating about, but because a whole year has passed since I last wrote about it.  A year ago, I posted about 5 new growth which had appeared on the plant.  A year later, these growths still remain small and immature.  A couple are still less than 6" tall.  They continue growing, slowly.  

     I think this orchid is still pouting from the butcher job of a repotting that I did when I first got it (in a very pot-bound state) 1.5 years ago.  It lost most of its roots as a result, and at one point I thought it would die altogether.  I'd like for the cymbidium to grow more roots now, but it seems to be focusing on the leaves instead.  

     At least this orchid isn't declining.  It is getting larger and bushier, just at a very slow pace.

Fifth new growth on cymbidium

     I spotted yet another new growth on my cymbidium while watering.  The young plant now has 3 old pseudobulbs, and 4 new shoots.  Could this newest growth be a flower spike?  The purple tone and the rounded shape seem promising, but there is really no way to tell at this early stage.  At the very least, once the 4 growths develop, this orchid will be able to put on a splendid show of blooms when it is ready.

Also, the small growth in the very middle of the picture remains completely unchanged since November.  I wonder why?

Edit (2/29): turns out I missed one other new growth.  That brings the total of new shoots up to 5, unless there are even more hiding under the media.

cymbidium billion dollar baby '#1' x gordon gibbs 'dashing'

     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.