Question
Jim,

Of the five groups (sinense, kanran, gorengii, ensifolium, and faberi), (1) what is the order of ease in growing?  I've always thought that ensifolium was the easist, but I've read that they grow high in the mountains where it's quite cold.  (2)And what is the order in regards to size?  (3) Which one has only one flower per spike compared to the others that have tall spikes with many flowers.  I'm interested in the single flower Chinese cymbidiums.  I've also heard that the varigated forms are more difficult to grow.  (4) Why is that?  Most cymbidiums, mostly the larger ones, are grown outdoors.  (5) Can the small Chinese cymbidiums be grown indoors?

I hope that's not too many questions.  By the way, I've checked the maisieorchids.com page and it was a dead end.  Could you check?

Thanks,
Skylar  

Answer
Hi Skylar,

First I would like to apologize for taking so long to get back to you.  My stepfather passed away the day before you wrote back and I've been busy with funeral, burial and thank you notes from friends and relatives.  

Which of the five oriental cymbidiums is easiest to grow and bloom?  Much depends upon where you live and the growing environment you can provide.  With that said, the order of ease would probably be ensifolium, kanran, gorengii, sinense then faberi.  None of them like temperatures above 85篎 and ensifolium and faberi do not like much below 40篎.  The kanran and gorengii need cold temperatures in winter to bloom well, the gorengii can even withstand temps. down near freezing and do quite well.

They are all about the same size with the faberi being slightly larger.  Flower count is not high for any of them, with gorengii and kanran normally have one or two while the others may have upwards of four or five, rarely more.

Variegated leaved forms are not necesarily harder to grow but they are slightly harder to bloom.  Everything has to be just about perfect for that to happen regularly.  You can try growing them indoors in an eastward facing window, just be careful to provide humidity above 50%.  

I checked the Maisie Orchid page and had no luck, don't know why.  You might try Winterview Orchids at:  http://www.winterview.com/  Hope that one works better.  They also have Chinese style cymbidium pots for sale.  

Again, I apologize for the delay.  

Jim Kawasaki
San Jose, Ca.