Help! My Cymbidium orchid is turning green this year. I hate green flowers!
Last year I bought this Cymbidium orchid in Caribbean market (in Melbourne, Australia)and the colour was bright yellow with dark red throat. The reason I bought it because I liked the colour and also it was quite cheap in the market.
I don’t know exactly what kind of Cymbidium orchid it is as the seller herself did not know the name for it. After flowering last year, I re-potted it as it had already over crowded and almost cracked the pot. I found that whoever grew it did not even bother to use orchid mix/medium. It was grown in ordinary soil and it had become so compacted so it was so hard to loosen the roots. I was so afraid that I damaged them. Anyway, I managed to transfer it to a slightly bigger pot and I used proper orchid mix which consists of old wooden chips.
A year later today, it is having five spikes of blooms. I have applied special fertilizer for orchids and I also used sea weed mixture. However, I can’t believe what I see! My Cymbies have turned green with only a very slight yellow tint. I am not really happy to see this colour as I don’t like green flowers.
Does anyone also have the same problem? What can cause Cymbidium orchid to change colour? Is it because of the amount of the sunlight , or is it the medium or the fertilizer? How can I make it yellow again?
Kiyanti2008's Weblog 
Sep 14, 2009 @ 04:15:30
Paint them bright yellow!!
XXX
Sep 14, 2009 @ 06:48:16
Very funny….very funny!
Someone just told me that some yellow orchids would be greenish when they just opened and they would gradually getting more yellow. But our orchids have opened for some time now and they are still more green than yellow.
Sep 18, 2009 @ 07:59:01
I just looked at your orchid and I think they are getting yellower. Perhaps it is right that gradually they’ll change colour.
Sep 21, 2009 @ 03:00:49
Greetings Lois! I haven’t talked to you in a long time.
I used to have Cymbidium orchids and they did that too. You just have to wait patiently!
Sep 21, 2009 @ 10:42:25
Hi Ron! I checked out your blogs before and I read that you were travelling overseas. I also went to Indonesia to visit my family in August.
Btw, what has happened to your plant blog?
About my Cymbidium orchid…. thanks for your advice before about growing orchids. It has encouraged me to try again and I think it works and I have 5 spikes this year. About the colour, you are also riight, now the colour are yellow about a month later.
Jan 15, 2010 @ 02:36:18
There was drama going on with my university’s organization so I chose to delete it, to end the drama. It was such a great blog though and lots of people visited it. 😦 drama sucks.
Sep 10, 2012 @ 06:13:29
Why bother…It looks fabulous…I have been looking for years for a really green orchid……lucky you!!!!!
Sep 10, 2012 @ 07:25:33
If you like green, Cymbidium Freeling ‘Green Ice’ is beautiful.I think it is available in Garden World, Keysborough, Melbourne. Green cymbidiums are quite common, I don’t think it is too hard to find them.
Sep 01, 2016 @ 10:43:45
Lol. Was checking out for my red orchid that has turned green as well. What’s the problem? And solution? I kinda like the green though.
Sep 01, 2016 @ 11:40:40
With this orchid of mine, actually there is no problem. The flowers will tend to have chartreuse (greenish yellow) colour when they open and gradually they will become more yellow.
I’m not sure what have happened to yours, it’s kind of strange to change from red to green. One time I noticed that one of my Cymbidiums had 2 different flowers (different colours) in 1 pot. Later on, I found out that there were actually 2 different plants in that pot.
People say that a slight colour change can happen as the result of different weather, temperatures and exposure to sunlight.