Today we're looking at how to grow the Cascading Cymbidium Orchids sometimes called miniature cymbidiums. They are a smaller growing variety and the flowers tend to hang down below the foliage so they have a pendulous growing habit. Cymbidiums are naturally an epiphytic plant they grow on trees and rocks from China right down through to Vietnam but usually in the cooler areas. These miniature varieties are excellent plants for hanging baskets they can also make great specimens in tallish containers which allow the flower spikes to hang down and it looks very graceful that way. Like all cymbidiums, the cascading types do like some moisture, however they don't like wet root systems, so you're looking at a moisture retentive potting mix yet with good drainage. Some of the materials you can use in the potting mix for your cascading Cymbidiums include Coir chips, and these are just coconut husks. They're in chip form and they tend to retain moisture but they also tend to drain fairly freely. This particular pack that we've got here has some chips it also has some fines, so for a hanging basket that's probably a little bit better because the fines are going to retain a little bit more moisture and hanging baskets can tend to dry out fairly quickly. However it's not a matter of one potting mix so it's all it will depend on your watering regime, the type of hanging basket that you use, and of course your climate. So there are other products that you can mix in with your Coir chips that will either retain more moisture or assist with drainage. One great product to assist with retaining a little bit more moisture if you need to if Sphagnum Moss, and you can mix this in with your Coir peat perhaps at about 20% Sphagnum Moss to 80% Coir Peat , and remember the Coir Peat chips are the ones that you should be using. If you need to improve the drainage and add a little bit more aeration to the potting mix that you're using you can add some Perlite. This aids in aeration which means that the roots of the cymbidiums are getting the air that they need and will also improve the drainage. Another option for improving water retention is a product called Vermiculite it will hold more water but at the same time it helps drain really well and it's great for the aeration of potting mixes. So it really ends up being an individual thing it's a combination of what works best for you most people tend to use Coir Peat, and this needs to be rehydrated before you use it. It needs to be given a good soak for about half an hour to an hour before use, once you've soaked it it'll darken up in color and look something like this. Now it's ready to use as a potting mix. To show you a few different potting methods we've removed our trailing cymbidium from the hanging basket and now we're going to look at pot sizes. What you need is a pot that's a little bit larger than the root system of the Cymbidium Orchid, so give it about five to ten centimeters each side and that's going to give the Cymbidium room to grow over about three years before it'll need to be repotted. So that's going to work well in there and that's a shorter pot. That one there it's probably a little bit big but it'll do and it's a taller pot and we tend to plant them into pots rather than directly into the hanging basket it gives us a little bit more control over the size. So what we do with this cymbidium orchid it's planted into that pot and then we'd put the pot into the hanging basket until it gets big enough to cope by itself. Because cymbidium orchids do like a slightly constricted root system. We'll go through the potting process. In this pot we've mixed up some corporate tips about 20% sphagnum Moss and we've also put in a little bit of vermiculite as well because in our particular situation our hanging baskets tend to dry out fairly quickly. First thing we'll do is put a handful in the bottom of the pot and that's going to have the orchid sitting at about the right level we simply need to backfill around here so a few handfuls, we will pack that down a little bit more firmly and we'll be ready to plant so that Cymbidium Orchid is potted. You could grow it on in that pot. wWe want to put it in a hanging basket we've made a hole in the hanging basket mix we'll simply push the pot down into there so we could sprinkle some pine bark tips around the top just to make it look a little bit prettier and finished off. We would water that in once, and it's not going to need any water for a few weeks because that Coir is quite wet at the moment. However it is a hanging basket it will be under cover so it's going to dry out fairly quickly. What you need to do is to test the potting mix for moisture every week or two and water as necessary. In terms of growing conditions, these are an orchid that like good filtered light rather than direct sun. The foliage may be subject to a little leaf burn in hot direct sun. Temperature range 12 degrees centigrade to 22 degrees centigrade is ideal, so indoor growing is possible. If you're growing those wonderful orchids indoors, avoid placing them near heating ducts as this tends to lower the humidity and dry the plants out. We think that they're best fertilized regularly and we use a general-purpose liquid orchid fertilizer. As we said cascading Cymbidiums do like to have a confined root run so don't over pot them and remember that about every three years you will probably need to pot them up to the next size, once the clump expands and the root system gets bigger then they can live happily in a large hanging basket like this by themselves. So in the end the potting mix that you use will depend on your watering habits your climate and general growing conditions it's not a matter of one potting mix being suitable for every gardener. So that's it for growing cascading Cymbidiums, they are a wonderful orchid, beautiful flowers and really quite easy to grow. For more information visit the website. For regular updates on how to grow a range of orchids plus many other garden plants subscribe to the YouTube channel for regular updates and as always good luck with your gardening.