Coelogyne: Am I doing it right?

[OrchidLoverSA]

Greetings all, I have a coelogyne "Unchained Melody" that I am totally besotted with, I would buy ten more if I could. This is now my second year caring for it, shortly after buying it, it put out three new growths before going into its winter rest. During this time it got bright light, no fertiliser, weekly watering and temps down to 3 celsius during the night (it was outside, but protected at night from frost). The bulbs didn't shrivel much, and I got one beautiful spike with many flowers towards the end of winter. When the buds emerged I started watering normally again and I took it inside, where it was warmer. Something that concerned me though is that at the start of spring the whole thing seemed to shrivel up, before putting out no less than 12 new growths! I repotted it into new medium (CHC) and saw that the old roots were in pretty bad shape.

So my question is, have I been handling the winter rest correctly? From all these new growths, I would love to get more than one spike, so should I change anything next winter? Perhaps more water, though I have read somewhere that too fat unshriveled bulbs prevents flowering?

[Yéri]

Hi,

As far as I'm concerned, I'd certainly not give it more water during its winter rest. For me (Belgium), I consider once a week during the rest period way too much. 2 weeks easily pass between watering my Coelogynes during winter times, even more if the weather is terrible outside!

Did you check the medium and/or the bulbs before watering it again during that time?
As the plant is not actively doing anything during that period, watering it before you can see the bulbs shrivelling (meaning the plant is showing it's starting to lack water) is unnecessary and can easily lead to rotting roots.
That is probably what you experienced when noticing the bad shape of the roots.

The rest of the conditions you are giving it during its rest period are good, except that 3°C sounds a bit low to me.
However, I try to grow most of my Coels in intermediate temperatures so I can't be accurate on temperature requirements. But to be on the safe side, I would try keeping it above 10°C.

Last but not least, winter rest can be critical to having any flowers at all on some plants.
If you keep the bulbs too plump, you're not really stressing it out so the plant will naturally assume that everything's okay and won't feel the need to produce flowers.

I hope I've been some help to you, this is only my advice based on what I've learned about orchids and Coelogynes more in particular.
Other people might be able to give you hard facts

[OrchidLoverSA]

Thank you so much for your detailed reply! I was under the impression it needs a stone cold rest, what are you max temps for wintering them? And I only watered them when the pots were light, but this year I'll stretch it out longer. What potting medium do you use?

[Yéri]

I keep the small greenhouse I have at about 20°C daytime and 15-17°C during the night.
Unfortunately, the weather has remained really soft and most of my orchids decided to start producing shoots in November...so I can't really guarantee any flowers this year! Or at least not for another couple of months =/
My carefully planned winter rest has thus gone to waste!

As for your watering, I'd wait until the pots are light and then wait at least just as long to water them. If you check your plants twice a week, you should easily be able to tell by the shrivelling of the bulbs when they're needing a little water.
Also, don't soak them as you would during summertime, more like mist them thoroughly.

My potting mix is about 70% bark and 30% sphag, but I doubt that's the ideal mix for any orchid They're all holding out all right though, so I guess I'm not such a bad father after all.

[SilverShaded]

I keep mine around 10-12C, they can take lower but its not neccesary, indeed many people keep them warmer.

With regards to flowering theres so many mixed experiences that its hard to say. Even with cristata some people have them flowering in autumn, mine flowers late spring, others keep them dry, mine is usually moist. Some people have problems flowering them at all, mine flowers every year even though i dont neccesarily follow conventional advice, which is keep them cold/dry.

Its probably worth remembering winter can be very short in indochina.

[ALToronto]

I killed 5 orchids in CHC before I realized how damaging it was and stopped using it. My Coelogyne Cristata is in a mixture of 50% NZ sphagnum, 25% fine bark chips and 25% styrofoam chips, and it's in bloom right now. I keep it on a chilly windowsill through the winter, give it water about once a week, very lightly from a sprayer, and the temp is about 15 deg during the day and 10-12 at night.

CHC is very bad for hanging onto fertilizer and then becoming toxic with it. It also can have lots of salt which is very difficult to leach out.

[WhiteRabbit]

I've not had issues with chc after using it for 5 years ...

[Masdyman]

Originally Posted by ALToronto

I killed 5 orchids in CHC before I realized how damaging it was and stopped using it. My Coelogyne Cristata is in a mixture of 50% NZ sphagnum, 25% fine bark chips and 25% styrofoam chips, and it's in bloom right now. I keep it on a chilly windowsill through the winter, give it water about once a week, very lightly from a sprayer, and the temp is about 15 deg during the day and 10-12 at night.

CHC is very bad for hanging onto fertilizer and then becoming toxic with it. It also can have lots of salt which is very difficult to leach out.

Hello, Can you elaborate on this quote? and what are you basing this quote on?

Regards

---------- Post added at 09:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:50 PM ----------

I grow my to a min of 7-10c in winter, on the dry side(too dry at times) bright light. In summer I would say wet and warm with feed at every watering.
Anything above min of 10c I would say is too warm.

My C. cristata and Unchained melody always flower very very well.
I haven't given them or my collection enough care this year and they have over shrivelled already which isn't great, some take the winter rest to extreme which may lead to dessication. I have seen some measly C. cristata with small bulbs, if the bulbs are not similar to the size of hens eggs then you are more than likely not watering and feeding enough in summer.
Mine used to sit in water.

[SilverShaded]

Not sure about it hanging onto fertiliser but it can have a very high ec reading unless its soaked and washed many many times. Sometimes coir is washed in sea water during 'manufacture'.

[Masdyman]

Hi Silver, The one I use is the opposite, with a very low EC. I think on the whole the EC awareness is there for suppliers. I was wondering if the AlToronto has other info. With husk I repot after 18 months as I have found after this is breaks down but I don't think I have had EC trouble with it building up. I feel s pour through test coming on!

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