Repotting Coelogyne

[isdaojon]

Hello everyone!

Hope your orchids are all flowering!

So, i just got a Coelogyne mooreana a week ago and I have to repott it this year but i heard that they get really anoyed when you do this.

I need help with the fallowing points;

1.When is the best time to repott?

2.How big does the next pot need to be so i dont disturb the roots for a long time?

3.What's the best way not to disturb the root system too much?

4.What kind of medium should I use?

And one more that dosent really have to do with repotting:

Do you think it will flower this year or should i wait untill next year?

[nenella]

Sorry I cannot help - I am like you in regards to coelogynes. ..a newbie....I too have read they do not like being disturbed.I was given one by my mother (a division of a huge plant she has) she repotted in august last year & she gave me the division in January this year) ...it has No new growths .2 growths ofmy division of the original given to me have plumped up and 1 growth turned brown & one growth has since dried up and I cut it off.....I think it's a patience game! I'm hoping my will flower in the next 12 months out of one of these 2 plumpier growths!

[isdaojon]

Anyone care to help us two newbies?

[s.kallima]

Hi,

There is a really good web page for Coelogyne culture here :
Cool-Growing Coelogyne Culture

I am far from being an expert with Coelogyne. I have C. cristata (growing in S/H, bloomed for christmas, now 3 new growths) and C. nitida (currently being rescued in live sphagnum). I had troubles with these plants because I wanted to transplant them just when I got them, they were not actively growing and they really did not like being repotted!!!
The question you have to ask yourself is : do I really need to repot ? Is your plant in a very tight pot or can it wait a year, so this year it could get to "know your place" and "feel at home" before you repot...
But if you really cannot wait to repot (I know it is hard ), from my little experience and the reading I've been doing on-line:
1. The best time to repot is when the plant is starting new growths and new roots

2. The new pot should not be more than 1/3 bigger than the previous one. If you pot is too big, you'll have trouble with the watering...

3. The best way not to disturb is to take the entire plant+medium (just remove gently the pot or cut it) and put it all in the new pot (with a bit if new medium at the bottom), then fill with your medium

4. A corse medium seems to be best for this Coelogyne, something with fine and medium bark, some perlite, some charcoal and some chopped sphagnum. But it depends on your growing conditions and also what medium you prefer...
I have my C.cristata in hydroponic pellets (hydroton) with a layer of live sphagnum on top. The pot is sitting in 2 cm of water (so the part with the hydrotton stay very moist all the time)

Good luck, I hope you'll find other Coelogyne growers to help you...

[isdaojon]

Thank you!

I think your right. I should repott next year. It still has room for one more growth.

[Zdenglan]

Originally Posted by s.kallima

Hi,

There is a really good web page for Coelogyne culture here :
Cool-Growing Coelogyne Culture

I am far from being an expert with Coelogyne. I have C. cristata (growing in S/H, bloomed for christmas, now 3 new growths) and C. nitida (currently being rescued in live sphagnum). I had troubles with these plants because I wanted to transplant them just when I got them, they were not actively growing and they really did not like being repotted!!!
The question you have to ask yourself is : do I really need to repot ? Is your plant in a very tight pot or can it wait a year, so this year it could get to "know your place" and "feel at home" before you repot...
But if you really cannot wait to repot (I know it is hard ), from my little experience and the reading I've been doing on-line:
1. The best time to repot is when the plant is starting new growths and new roots

2. The new pot should not be more than 1/3 bigger than the previous one. If you pot is too big, you'll have trouble with the watering...

3. The best way not to disturb is to take the entire plant+medium (just remove gently the pot or cut it) and put it all in the new pot (with a bit if new medium at the bottom), then fill with your medium

4. A corse medium seems to be best for this Coelogyne, something with fine and medium bark, some perlite, some charcoal and some chopped sphagnum. But it depends on your growing conditions and also what medium you prefer...
I have my C.cristata in hydroponic pellets (hydroton) with a layer of live sphagnum on top. The pot is sitting in 2 cm of water (so the part with the hydrotton stay very moist all the time)

Good luck, I hope you'll find other Coelogyne growers to help you...

I absolutely agree, I am far from being an expert myself but recently aquired a C. cristata on ebay, seven pseudobulbs, two leads, arrived with no roots whatsoever but started growing rapidly after being potted into predominantly medium grade bark compost. It was in early spring so I guess it must have been at the end of it's resting period and that seems to be the ideal time to repot and divide them.

[dgenovese1]

Hello All...but especially S.kallima,
Thanks for making this post and for the informative explanation.

I was unaware that these guys are fussy when it comes to repotting, and I have one that is outside its original container by quite a bit. Now I feel I have the info needed to make it a good repotting experience.

[Saiva]

Some clones are more tolerant to repotting than others! Mine is quite grumpy, the person I bought the bulbs from told me that if I repotted it, it will refuse to flower for about two years!

The advice I got was to repot the plant and let it stay in the container even when it grew over the edge! It's possible to plant it in a bigger container if the container has got holes on the sides! Like a basket that physalis comes in - but bigger of course! If the holes are so big the pieces of bark falls out - put a small net on the oinside of the container! Then the plant can sit there for years.

Oh, and the pots/containers should be low and wide so the bulbs can spread out but still keep the size of the pot reasonably low.

[bboibreks]

Sorry to join the party so late. I grow these outdoors with very little direct light outside in San Francisco. They grow like weeds for me. I divide them when the clumps start to get overcrowded and there are more backbulbs that leafed bulbs. At that point I break them up to single or double lead divisions with a few backbulbs. They generally recover to bloom that year. I've repotted and divided in the middle of winter without too much harm. The single lead plants with 2 backbulbs generally turn to 4 leads the following spring as each backbulb will send up a growth or 2. These grow fairly cold for me. They love water. I repot and divide them every 2 years and I try to put in much bigger pots since they are always pushing out new growth. It hasn't been unusual to get at least 2 flushes of new growth a year, sometimes 3. I grow them with my masdevallias but a bit more light.

[WeirdGuySeattle]

Yikes, I don't like this thread. I just divided my coelogyne (barbatum I think - I'd have to check the tag...) I hope it survives, but it was becoming unwieldy - its not my favorite, but it certainly looks cool when it blooms.

Mine had three long runners all growing out of the old pot by at least 2 inches on each new lead. I decided it needed to get a new pot and divided to three plants.

I clopped off a bunch of old roots attached to the oldest backbulbs. Now I have three plants - all look okay so far. But its only been 2 weeks. All of them had a new growth started when I started this process, they don't seem to be dying, but aren't really noticeably growing either.

If I had to do this with a little forethought - I might just let a plant crawl into a new pot. This particular one I was thinking of mounting, but ultimately after some research decided against it...

Shoot - I hope mine survives. I didn't really think about it, just decided it was time to go for it and live with the consequences.