Allow me to understand this better. You received the plant in fall 2012, potted it up into 2 or 3 gallon pot and now you want to divide it?

Yes, because it was in a tall skinny orchid pot that was deforming and nearly impossible to get off the root ball; it would take me 15 minutes to water it, and I really doubt much of that water made it inside to the root ball; it could not stand up on it's own, it had to be propped up. So, last fall, I managed to get it out of the pot (6-8" high, maybe 6" across?) and plopped it in a larger pot and put bark all around and left it like that all winter. I didn't tease apart the root ball when I repotted it, I ONLY centered that horribly tight root ball in a pot with about 1.5" space all around the perimeter, and filled up the empty space with bark. Then I left it out with the rest of my succulents the rest of fall, watering it with a 17-9-26 because I have epi's on the same shelving unit so they shared a watering pot, and they all went in a cold frame all winter. It had 2 tired bloom stalks when given to me, and when the blooms fell off, I cut the stalks down low. It NOW has 3 bloom stalks. I can't remember if I saw any new growth other than that.

My understanding was that, because it was SO rootbound in it's original pot (smaller than a 1 gallon, but I don't know orchid pot sizes), and because I didn't tease it apart when I potted it up, that I should unpot it now, split it into two groups of 3 or 4 pseudo bulbs, and put in two pots, or in a larger single pot. Am I misunderstanding what 'should be done'? I don't want to do it right now, because I don't want to lose the blooms that are getting ready to open. Should I split it once the flowers are finished, or should I leave it as is until it grows out of this newer and larger pot, even though the original root ball was never touched when I repotted it?

Thanks for the more elaborate response. That is a good question, does it still need to be repotted/divided properly? My thinking is - if the roots were so tightly packed, and I believe you, that you'd do more damage than any benefit, then just move it to a bigger pot as you have already done. Once it fills the pot again and with new roots, dividing won't be so damaging. How much longer do you think it could stay in this new pot?

I don't know how long it will take to NEARLY fill the new area. I think I should split it before it gets tight again, but this is my very first cymbidium EVER, and I just don't know how long that would BE. A year or so, I'm sure. I can leave it, that's not a problem, and I've already got fert for it. I read on some site somewhere (NO idea where...) that March - May, use 30-10-10, June - Sept, use 20-10-20, and Oct to Feb, use 10-3-20. I HAVE 30-10-10, but not the other two ratios. It seemed to like the epi fert (17-9-26) a lot though, so I'm not going to stress about exact ferts to use.

So, your thought it to leave it until it's close to filling this current pot and THEN split it?

To divide or not to divide depends to some extent on how many pseudobulbs the plant has and how many growing leads.
The optimum size is the growing lead plus three or four pseudobulbs. Too small a division and the time to flower is longer.
From my casual observation of Cymbidiums they are always tight in the pot because the Cymbidium experts constantly pot the plants on to a slightly larger pot.
As for the fertilizer...find some old fertilizer threads using the search facility and see what they say.

I would not use a fertilizer with higher amounts of nitrogen than other nutrients past July. So 30-10-10 or 20-10-20 is fine for Jan - June/July.

If you feel the plant would be too big to handle after it fills out the pot again, then divide when the flowers are done.

It will be quite close to being too big to handle, for me and my hands and comfort. I am leaning towards doing it after the bloom is finished.

The fert schedule I copied from somewhere was:
30-10-10 March to May (have that)
20-10-20 June to September (I have close to that)
10-30-20 October to Feb (have nothing like that, not sure I've ever seen it!)

You have entered the Cymbidium World where there are all sorts of mysteries and hocus pocus so that a guy or gal can win Champion Cymbidium at a major orchid show. This is just a dream for the average Cymbidium grower. The standard of orchid growing required is very high.

Just find something similar to the first two formulas and forget about the 10 - 30 -20.

Oh, I can DO that... Thanks! Should I not fertilize during the winter months at all? Or should I use one of the ferts I already have, sparingly. I don't water much then, but it gets rained on when it's just rain and not expected to be horribly stormy or frigid cold. It's in the cold frame for now, (see picture) but once I take that down in a week or so, it's out in the open for the summer and fall. I have enclosed a picture of my Luxurious Cold Frame for your viewing pleasure.. ;D It did it's job pretty well, although it will get alterations before next winter!

In my experience, cymbidiums do not necessarily like to be divided - they love being tight in the pot, too. If I've lost a cym, this is how I've lost it - by dividing...so...my advice is to leave the plant in this slightly larger pot. If it's 1 - 2 years until you need to divide it, then great!!

Are you sure that the new spikes coming are not new growth? This is the time that the cyms start to grow and new growth can look an awful lot like new spikes. Just sayin'.

Cyms love to be fed. Right now is good for a high nitrogen feeding. I like to give mine some Nutricote right now, because here I'm not in "growth mode" for the rest of my orchids quite yet. That way, they're being fed while the rest of my orchids are still resting. (If we ever get any sun around here..that will change!! But I digress).

Good luck with your cymbidium. I love them and feel they are very rewarding plants!

Is that the collection? To be like one of the guys or gals that i mentioned above you need to have lots and lots of Cymbidiums. A vista of Cymbidiums that would stretch from the front to the back boundary fence with no foreign plants such as christmas cactus to be seen.
Of course, none of their Cymbidiums would ever rest on the ground. Put a house brick or two under that Cym.

Seriously, how cold does it get in Boulder Creek? As you go west from the Pacific Ocean here it gets colder at night in winter so once you get to the far western parts of this city, frosts are frequent.
Not sure of the frost breaking power of Shade-cloth, you need local help on that but temps lower than about -2C can damage Cymbidium buds.
Again, I think that that the local Cym. experts do fertilize
a bit in normal winter weather where after a cool night the arid westerly wind kicks in and the days are mostly sunny with max temps in the 60sF.

It's not on the ground, it's on an upside down saucer. You can't see it very well, because critters tunneling around sank it a bit. But, promise, it's not on the ground. Next winter I can put it on a taller pot to get it further off the ground! As to how cold, most of our winter nights were down in the low 30's, with about 18 of them into the high 20's (F). When I knew it was going to be below 32 (freezing), I made sure to pull down the tarp (it's just a milky clear tarp, it's not shade cloth) and clip it at the bottom so any wind wouldn't blow it back up and over. The only frost damage I've had this winter was to the top row of epi's - I think they were too close to the 'ceiling'. The lower row of them came through blemish free. I AM planning on changes to the frame for next winter, yes I am. I want an easier way to raise and lower the tarp - I saw a picture of one that looked like a gigantic pram cover, with tarp fastened somehow to hoops that you raised and lowered, but I couldn't find directions on how they did it... I also need to put down some kind of flooring/pavers/some damned thing, because the soft ground and critters sank 2 of the 4 feet of the plant stand the christmas cactus were on, and it fell over one night, put a hole in the tarp, and one of the plants was outside the tarp cover, and had a chilly night that did it NO good.

I know I have only the one plant, I'm planning on getting more at the San Francisco Garden Show in 2 weeks, but I wanted to see if it would live through my winter doing reasonably well before I sank more money into them. After the way my other orchids died last winter, I wanted some proof it wasn't totally frittering away what limited money I have before I went shopping for more. The thing I have the most of is the epi's. Odd looking plants with the most glorious flowers.

Yes I'm sure it's buds. The color blob in the center and on the right are 2 of the 3 bud stalks, it's not leaves when it's got a stalk with empty clear space and then lumps only at the end. I need to go out there and see if/where I have regular growth coming up. I think I forgot to look after I realized that not only had it NOT died, but it had the 3 bud stalks coming up!

I got the high nitrogen fert a few days ago, I just have to take it outside with me. I can certainly not divide the thing if the consensus is to leave it be for a year or two longer. Not a problem...

Ah, wow, yes, I see the spikes now. It must really like your cold nights! I'm sure you've got some growth coming. The plant looks healthy. Is the pot clay? Or plastic? It has good drainage, right? Usually cyms like tall narrow pots such as the one you described initially.

I am of the firm belief "if it ain't broke don't fix it" - eventually you will get the hang of when to repot your cymbidiums and when to let them grow another year. I've had them break their pots with their strong root system - then decline after division or repotting. So keep it in mind that sometimes happens. Last year, I repotted nearly all my cyms, and this year I only got one spike. I think I waited too late in the season to repot, plus our weather can really effect flowering here in Michigan. :-(

It's in a black plastic nursery pot, which sits inside the clay pot, which has a giant drainage hole. I have never seen water sit inside the clay pot, and I HAVE looked. It's not the same proportion as an orchid pot, nor does it have the 'sieve' bottom of it's original orchid pot, but I didn't HAVE anything like them. This pot is a little taller than the orchid pot, and about 2" wider. It was the closest next bigger size I had in my stash of pots. Standard black plastic nursery pot with 4 large holes equidistant around the bottom of the side - not on the actual bottom such as to detract from drainage.

MY FIL used to grow cymbidiums. I think they were all busting out of the redwood round planters he had them in, but they were 'old school' with really muddy (imo - ugly) blooms. He may have replanted them one time that I knew of, and then he gave them all away because he no longer had the hand strength to split them. They were fairly light yellow-green leaves, with a ton of spots on them, and those less than lovely blooms. They had NO attraction for me.

However, once my best friend gave me most of her plants (and her cat) - she had a housing issue... the cymbidium was part of the load. I did my research to see if it was possible for it to live through my winter, at it appears that it has. I knew I needed to do a cold frame thing for other plants, and I couldn't bring anything indoors because her cat eats plants, and my limited window space was taken by an enclosure I made with chicken wire to keep the damned cat out of the few I have that really can't go below about 60 for long, and I still caught him sitting in my spider plant, eating the leaves. Sigh. Damned cat!!! ;P

So, now that I know I can keep one alive through the winter, I'll get more, and do my best to get some of the beautiful bloom colors I've seen (at Home Depot for FAR more money than I'm willing to spend) or online - clear whites, whites with spotting, clear green, etc. I like the new colors a lot, and I can't wait to see what I can find at the flower show. I don't live too far from it, and I'll go early on if possible, and on the last day if I really get stuck with jury duty (entirely possible).

Black plastic nursery pot says it's 1.5 gallons, and there are 3 or 4 new leaf shoots coming up. So, it's happy, and I'll leave it be to BE happy.

Yes, that type of pot should be great! So many wonderful cymbidiums....I wish you well with them!