# Cymbidium tracyanum



## werner.freitag (Feb 12, 2022)

A nice Cymbidium, colorful , easy flowering, but seems to be quite rare. This is just a piece of a bigger plant.


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## Ozpaph (Feb 12, 2022)

such a bold flower.


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## emydura (Feb 12, 2022)

Lovely. I have a couple but just can't get them to flower.


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## TyroneGenade (Feb 12, 2022)

A splendid flower. Please tell us how you grow it.


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## Tony (Feb 12, 2022)

Beautiful, I wish I could grow one.


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## DrLeslieEe (Feb 12, 2022)

Very nice one.

I judged one in Cape Cod that had 12 spikes over 100 flowers in a 5 gallon pot, six feet in diameter! I remember grower said it liked high light and cool dry winters.


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## GuRu (Feb 13, 2022)

Very nice flowers with the colouratin more on the yellowish/reddish side than on the grenish/brownish one.


DrLeslieEe said:


> ............I judged one in Cape Cod that had 12 spikes over 100 flowers in a 5 gallon pot, six feet in diameter! I remember grower said it liked high light and cool dry winters.


Indeed, this species can grow huge and produce plenty of flowers.....these plants in flower are very impressive ones....but need plenty of space and this is the backside of the coin.


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## PeteM (Feb 13, 2022)

emydura said:


> Lovely. I have a couple but just can't get them to flower.


I have the same problem. I keep one in the collection. still trying to find the right spot that’s cool enough to get it to flower.


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## Linus_Cello (Feb 13, 2022)

PeteM said:


> I have the same problem. I keep one in the collection. still trying to find the right spot that’s cool enough to get it to flower.



couldn’t you keep it outside and bring in when it gets too cold?


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## Djthomp28 (Feb 13, 2022)

I love the color on yours! Mine is more shades of green and brown. It flowers yearly but not spectacularly. I leave it outside until the threat of snow. Then it comes into my barely heated greenhouse (min. 45 degrees) for a month. Next it comes inside my grow room and sits in a south facing window until the last frost date. 

It is a space hog and not and easy one to rehome. Mine it literally bursting out of a 3 gallon pot.


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## tomp (Feb 13, 2022)

We see tracyanum pretty regularly on the US west coast. I have a couple and might even consider them my favorite Cym. They bloom in late fall early winter, are beautify fragrant and truly exotic. First two photos are Cym tracyanum. Third photo is another species Cym eburneum which has a very similar look.


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## PeteM (Feb 13, 2022)

Linus_Cello said:


> couldn’t you keep it outside and bring in when it gets too cold?


 I don’t trust the outside growing conditions, too hot, lots of slugs and squirrels. I’ll have to revisit sending it out in the fall and finding a cool enough room.


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## DrLeslieEe (Feb 13, 2022)

tomp said:


> We see tracyanum pretty regularly on the US west coast. I have a couple and might even consider them my favorite Cym. They bloom in late fall early winter, are beautify fragrant and truly exotic. First two photos are Cym tracyanum. Third photo is another species Cym eburneum which has a very similar look.View attachment 32323
> View attachment 32324
> View attachment 32325
> View attachment 32323
> ...


What are your cultural conditions throughout the year?


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## Greenpaph (Feb 13, 2022)

Nice color saturation!


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## tomp (Feb 14, 2022)

DrLeslieEe said:


> What are your cultural conditions throughout the year?


We are blessed in the San Francisco Bay Area with a mild Mediterranean climate, warm dry summers and cool wet winters (not wet enough these days. Summer highs avg in the 70F nights in the 40-50F, winters cooler but relatively mild. I current grow my Cyms in a greenhouse on the coast but can can do well outdoors if not drowned by rain and while they can take the cold don’t like a prolonged freeze. My GH ranges from high of 85F to 40F.
Cym. tracyanum can made beautiful large fragrant specimen plants that bloom early, however it is wise to repot frequently enough to keep to 2 gallon as Cyms can be hard work to break up when huge. Some folks use a coir/bark mix to make repot easier.
Try um you’ll like um.


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## NYEric (Feb 14, 2022)

Nice. We can't grow Cymbids in NYC apartments.


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## BrucherT (Feb 14, 2022)

This is the nicest-colored form I’ve seen. I really like this species. My Aunt has had one for over 50 years and it’s insanely big; I repotted it 3 years ago for her after probably no repot for 15 years and it has refused to bloom since; it blooms in spring in the Midwest. Wenqing Perner has one even larger and if I remember correctly, the flower count topped 800.


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## tomp (Feb 15, 2022)

BrucherT said:


> This is the nicest-colored form I’ve seen. I really like this species. My Aunt has had one for over 50 years and it’s insanely big; I repotted it 3 years ago for her after probably no repot for 15 years and it has refused to bloom since; it blooms in spring in the Midwest. Wenqing Perner has one even larger and if I remember correctly, the flower count topped 800.



Brucher, is your Aunt still speaking to you? ))

yes it is a nice dark cultivar ’Neal’, named for Neal Tadlock. Another nice cultivar is ‘Cindy’ which is more yellow. Both are beautifully fragrant.
A note on repotting: best to keep 3-5 back bulbs minimum and repot by end July (here) which helps to keep plant on ‘schedule’. I had a non orchid friend who didn’t wait for me to help him repot his wife’s 5 very large plants. When I got there he had split the plants into individual P bulbs and put them all back in the same pots. Took several years before the plants quite sulking and finally produced flowers.


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## werner.freitag (Feb 15, 2022)

a very intereting discussion , I did not expect
for me this Cymbidium seemed to be easy to grow and flower
but my plants get the weather of Northern Thailand, just protected by shade cover
the Cymbidiums get morning sun , not too much light all together
from November on there are colder nights down to 10Celsius/50Fahrenheit , going up again just now
this could be crucial


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## tomp (Feb 16, 2022)

werner.freitag said:


> a very intereting discussion , I did not expect
> for me this Cymbidium seemed to be easy to grow and flower
> but my plants get the weather of Northern Thailand, just protected by shade cover
> the Cymbidiums get morning sun , not too much light all together
> ...


I agree they are easy to grow and flower, given what they like. You are correct the night temp drop is a key factor.


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## Tom-DE (Feb 28, 2022)

It is my favorite Cym species! and the size is manageable...


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## jokerpass (Mar 1, 2022)

California has the perfect weather to grow Cymbidiums in general. Cymbidiums in general have specific requirements. They love outdoor hates indoor so one of the key is that they must be grown outdoor as much as possible as long as the temp is above freezing and there is no frost. It is not possible/very hard to acheive these conditions in Canada, that's why you rarely see Cymbidiums (hybrid and species) in any Canadian shows and and in people's collection.


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## KyushuCalanthe (Mar 1, 2022)

BrucherT said:


> This is the nicest-colored form I’ve seen. I really like this species. My Aunt has had one for over 50 years and it’s insanely big; I repotted it 3 years ago for her after probably no repot for 15 years and it has refused to bloom since; it blooms in spring in the Midwest. Wenqing Perner has one even larger and if I remember correctly, the flower count topped 800.



I saw the Perner's plant back in 2013 in June. No flowers of course, but a large, happy plant. I also saw a pretty good sized one in Tokyo back in 2010. See attached pics.


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## abax (Mar 1, 2022)

The Cyms. pictured are a walk on the wild side and gloriously beautiful. Mercy me,
fragrant too!


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## Guldal (Mar 2, 2022)

Gorgeous tracey, Werner!

Btw. the plant I posted here as Cym. tracey earlier on, I since found out, wasn't exactly that, but Cym. erythraeum, which with aboundantly clarity is demonstrated, when compared to the gorgeous traceys shown in this thread:


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## werner.freitag (Mar 2, 2022)

different flower stalk and size, similar color pattern

I have never seen as real plant, thanks for posting

is the flower really 8cm wide ?


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