Help with Sophronitis Coccinea care UK

[rbarata]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Given that my usual go-to source for habitat/culture information has inconsistent information, I figure that we need another source... It was a good chance to visit Compendium of Miniature Orchids. (C. coccinia definitely qualifies as a miniatue) A 4-volume NOT miniature set of volumes, with detailed habitat information by species , as well as culture recommendations. Intermediate to cool, can tolerate temperatures down to 2 deg C, suggests that ideal high should be kept below 27 deg C. (Mine does go a bit higher but not by a lot). High humidity, "bright diffused" to medium shade.

Now I know where my coccinea will spend next winter...if it survives my summer.

Roberta, risking a small thread hijack, what does the Compedium says about milleri and briegeri?

[Roberta]

Back to the books...

C briegeri isn't specifically listed - can't get them all. For milleri, it reverts to general notes for the group "formerly in the genus Hoffmannseggella" ... the ones that even before that were Sophronitis. ( I know the authors... they were tearing their hair out trying to keep up with genus changes. You can't "search and replace" in a book once it is published...One of the driving forces for publishing a second edition.) For the "general culture recommendations" - , suggestion that winter should be cooler and drier without fertilizer (but not dry) with a 10 deg C (20 deg F) day-night temperature differential. Notes that the "majority of species will tolerate winter lows of 2 deg C/35 deg F if kept dry during the extremes". But this is general for the whole Sophonitis group. So coccinea got the specific treatment, and a few others. For the rest, the general notes are pretty accurate.

[rbarata]

Thank you Roberta.