Coelogyne Cristata var alba - question about supporting growth
 

.. and for the third time today, Hello Everyone!

As some of you may have read, I got some new babies today including some more lovelies to add to my growing coelogyne collection :)

However, the cristata var alba has come with one p/bulb growing quite a ways over the edge of the pot. I've never had one come like that before and when they get towards this stage at home, I repot and try to guide the growth back in. So, my question is, should I be giving this some support? or repotting it? or just leaving it be? (as I'm feeling a bit worried the rhizome snapping)

I also have similar situation on my coe Unchained Melody. How often to repot coelogyne? Any help is
appreciated.

I think it is a good time to repot because, while your pot may not be full of roots yet, the plant had overgrown it and will have trouble growing healthy roots into thin air unless you have very high humidity. If you put the plant in a hanging basket it wouldnt be a problem. If something like this happens again you can simply bend the growth down and stick it to the side of the basket. Does that make sense?

Coelogyne cristata has a hanging habit. If you search for pictures in google, you will find that all grown plants are hanging outside the pots. This is normal for this species, and you will not be able to "domesticate" it to stay inside the pot! You can try for a while, but the the best solution is to hang the pot (or set it on top of a support) and let the plant do what she likes to do... on the other hand, when it blooms, the flowers will also be hanging!

The funny thing is that my cristata has the bulbs practicaly growing on top of one another while the var alba obviously doesn't (I assumed they'd be the same when I bought the var alba - lesson learned, never assume!)

Well, here's a picture of how it is now (2 months on from the first picture). As you can see, the new growth is going upwards so repotting won't really make much difference. Now the weight is starting to tip the pot anyway, I'll work on supporting it and, like you say kavanaru, I'll see what she wants to do - could be interesting this one :)

Hi Jenny,

I purchased a coel a while ago from a grower and it had similar growth habits. He recommended at the time to put the existing plant and pot into a larger pot (which would incorporate the overhanging pbulbs and fill new area with media as well. This provides growing room for new pbulb while not disturbing the plant. Just something to think about.

Interesting.... as you can see the newest p/bulb doesn't actually have any roots to go into medium and I have no idea where the new growth is going now (except upwards)... I'll see how she gets on but consider me thinking..... :hmm