Question
hey there,

A friend gave me an orchid last year around May, when I admired it. I'm pretty sure it's a Cymbidium orchid. It has long leaves that come from this bulb thing. Anyway, I went to to his house the other day and noticed that on his balcony where he keeps his orchids, a lot of them already had spikes and looked just about to flower. It's late autumn now (I'm in Sydney, Australia). My orchid has leaves that are green and healthy-looking and the bulb look okay too but it looks nowhere near flowering. Is there anything that I should be doing that I'm not? I fertilise each week with orchid fertiliser. I leave it outside in the balcony (cos that's where he had his). Should I bring it inside?

There are also these greyish dried bulbs that's joined to the green ones. Should I cut these off? Are they taking the nutrients from the green bulbs? There's a leaf coming out of one of them, so I guess they're still alive.

Answer
Hey Suz, how ya doing downunder?  

It probably is a cymbidium orchid your friend gave you, they grow really well along the eastern Australia coast.  In fact, there are three cymbidium species that are native to your country.  

I believe your cymbidium may not be getting enough sunlight, the reason I say this is because you said the leaves are green and healthy looking.  When a cymbidium is getting proper sunlight exposure, the leaves will be more a light to medium green color but if yours are more dark green then that could be the cause for it not spiking and blooming.  If this is the case, move it slowly towards more sunlight slowly over the next three weeks to acclimate it to more sunlight, move it too quickly and the leaves may become sunburned.  

Those leafless bulbs are still alive and well, they only have lost their leaves.  By the way, those bulbs are commonly referred to as backbulbs and they cause no harm to the cymbidium.  Backbulbs can serve as a backup source of water and nutrients for the healthy green-leaved bulbs during times of drought or their owner forgets to water them.  

It may be too late for your cymbidium to produce spikes and blooms this coming winter since there is no evidence of spikes appearing.  Try taking a closer look around at the base of the bulbs to see if there are some new growth showing.  If the new growths look rather pointy they are probably new bulbs starting but if they are more roundish with a bullet shaped tip they could be spikes.  I hope there are some spikes!!!  Try not to handle spikes in the morning as they are somewhat brittle until they warm up a bit.  

Hope this helps.  If you have other questions or would like more information about the above, write back and I'll try to help with them.  By the way, I am leaving for a weeks vacation on Maui, Hawaii in the morning.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.