Coelogyne culture. Potting media? Basket?

[DirtyCoconuts]

I have two of these guys and I fear I live in too hot an area but I am also a bit confused about their culture. People seem to say pot them in sphagnum but I don’t like that and try to avoid it if possible. I also thought that if I went with either my open mix with a lot of lava rock, perlite and leca or semi hydro to allow for more evaporation and this cooler roots.

First, am I going to kill these plants in my neighborhood?

Second, will I be doing them a disservice by having them out of sphagnum

Third. Anyone in a similar zone growing these with any success?

[Roberta]

Which Coelogynes? It's a big genus, and there are some very warm-growing species, as well as some cool-growing ones. And if hybrids, depends on the parents.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Ha! Very fair question

C. lawrenceana
And
C. rochussenii
Both have several nice sized pbulb and they both have a new growths. The lawrenceana it is just a pimple, the other it is a month or two old and about five inches

[Roberta]

Coel. lawrenceana comes from a fairly wide elevation range, but a lot of its range is quite warm. The Baker sheet in Orchidwiz lists a min-max of 43 - 93 deg F with caution that this is approximate, full range not well known. Should be fine outside... needs shade, and humidity (which you have lots of)

C. rochussenii is a hot grower - like a Phal. The Baker sheet gives min-max of 60-90 deg F. While there are moderate-elevation populations, mostly a low-elevation plant.

Since these love humidity but still need a free-draining medium, Baker suggests baskets rather than pots - possibly those coir-lined baskets would work well with your open mix. But cooling on the roots is definitely not needed or wanted.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Sweet. That is amazing.

What are the Baker sheets?

[Roberta]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

What are the Baker sheets?

Over a whole lot of years, Charles Baker and his wife Margaret accumulated huge amounts of data for individual species. They published culture sheets with temperature, rainfall, cloud cover, and cultural data. An enormous body of work. The Bakers have passed on - there is a foundation that still sells the sheets, I think for about $2 each. Orchid Culture -- Charles and Margaret Baker. There are some sample culture sheets on the site to show the kind of data included, the Orchidwiz interface is a whole lot friendlier.

Orchidwiz, the database program, licensed the whole opus (including digitizing a bunch of them that had only been on paper) and prettied up the interface to make them easier to use. I think that there are close to 5000 species that have these culture sheets available in Orchidwiz... for species that don't, the bare-bones habitat summaries in IOSPE make at least an educated guess possible, but those culture sheets are 'WAY more detailed.

Disclaimer... I don't have any relationship with Orchdwiz,other than it's my go-to source for most of what I know about the details of orchid species and hybrids. It unfortunately only runs on Windows... a Mac with a Windows emulator would probably work but I don't know anybody who is doing that so can''t say for sure.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Wow. That is incredible

[Roberta]

IMHO, well worth supporting those who have spent years compiling orchid species information and put it in useful and available form...

IOSPE has been Jay Pfahl's labor of love for a very long time. In about 2006, it had maybe 5000 species... at that time, Jay had been supporting the site and his research materials (most of those references aren't available in libraries, need to be purchased) with a small orchid business that was destroyed in a hurricane. I had a teensy hand in the growth of the site in suggesting that if he asked for an annual "subscription", sort of like public radio/TV - still free to access, but a request for ongoing support he could perhaps raise more money for his research materials than by asking for 1-time donations. It is has been very successful - and the site is now up to nearly 23,000 species. Photos are all donated. I am in awe!

[DirtyCoconuts]

I am already compiling a list of sheets to buy.

I could not agree more. In our capitalist society the loudest voice we have is our $$$

[jldriessnack]

Warm growing coels such as from borneo I put in plastic or wooden baskets with nicely packed sphagnum. They like to be wet and warm and I do not allow temperatures below 65F ever, usually keeping it between 70-80 when possible. I use filtered water because I find other sources cause lead tip browning.