Help with super wrinkled Coelogyne

[Forever-mango]

I purchased a Coelogyne at the orchid auction at my local orchid club about 6 months ago. Its got 80% of most its foliage out of the pot and its pseudobulbs are super wrinkled I tried to soak it in water for a long time as Fred recommended, it helped a little, but the next day its gone back to the same looks. Its growing lots of new leaves but old leaves are starting to turn yellow. Its currently under 70% shade and water twice a day. I mist it when i get time to go outside.

Im thinking it needs a repot, but not sure into what size? Or what can you recommend to help the pseudobulbs recover to nice a fat?











Kind regards
Stephen

[LouisW]

Does the plant still have a good root system? If so, I would just keep watering it as usual and it should eventually recover. soaking it and giving it extra water risks rotting the good roots and then you would be in real trouble, plus it looks like its covered with new growth which might be sensitive to rot. It also could be normal for this type of Coelogyne but im not sure.

There is no way to neatly contain this type of plant in a pot, so I would recommend growing it in a hanging basket so that its growths can trail out and cover the outside eventually forming a giant Coelogyne ball.

[kmarch]

Coelogyne cristata is a heavy, heavy drinker when it is in growth mode, especially thistime of year (for us Aussies) when the pseudobulbs are fattening up. I have 3 cristatas, one "regular" one and two var. alba. They are all growing in hanging baskets of various types. The first pic (see attached) is the "regular" cristata and is growing in an ordinary plastic hanging basket (not a special orchid basket). The second one is growing in a reservoir pot. It is a special pot that has a raised bit in the middle of the bottom of the pot with the drainage hole at the top of the raised bump. There are no other drainage holes. The result is that there is a reservoir about an inch or so deep at the bottom of the pot that holds water. In concept it is very similar to S/H pots that hold a reserve of water at the bottom. As you can see, the third one is growing in a large, shallow plastic pan. They are all growing in various types of bark mixes.

One nice thing about Coel cristata is that it has hard wiry roots that are not prone to rot so you can water them quite heavily (in fact they want that when in growth) without fear of rotting the roots off.

Mango, your coelogyne just looks like it has been kept very dry for a long time. How long have you had it? The severely shriveled bulbs should plump back up but it may take some time (it certainly won't happen with just one soaking) and they may not fully fatten up again. As Louis has mentioned, you really can't contain this orchid. You can see that all three of mine are rambling out of their pots. This is normal for this coelogyne and you need not worry about it overflowing the pot.

I can't tell what it is potted in? Is it a dry mix?

[Forever-mango]

Hello Kmarch. I have had it for a few months now. I won it at my local orchid club and when purchased it was half shriveled. Its potting in pine bark and lots of osmocote. The pot has heaps of drainage holes, and when i water, the water go straight out.

Should i change the potting medium to a potting mix instead? I noticed on my Dendrobium mounts that when the bulbs have shriveled abit, i just soak for 12hrs and its fat again. This guy has never been fully fat. I suspect it might be a problem with the mix.

[fred]

Stephen the other day when i saw your first post and then the second post I was going to say "lets get Kevin's opinion on this one as well" because I knew he ( Kevin ) has cristata as well.

have a look at post No #24 http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/orc...-cristata.html the small one is growing in sphagnum moss the large one is in fine bark medium
when I have day light I will take some new photos for you to see the difference with the pictures in the link ( the chids look even better now )

I use oven baking tins ( never used ) the tins are about 2 and a half inches high I would sit the chid in the water and when the water gets low fill the oven tin again

what I do with my large cristata as the water goes straight out I water that one first then water my other chids in that house then I water it again

I still soak my cristata's once a week for about an hour.

[Forever-mango]

Thanks Fred. Those bulbs are very fat and nice. The plants are very healthy. I have my coelogyne mayeriana in moss and they are doing very well. Although they are not as fat as Kevin's and yours, but its better than the one i posted.

I found a foam box i usually get from work which is only 3inchs tall. I placed the coelogyne in it with about 2 inchs of water. Can i leave the pot in there until the bulbs are fat again? or should i hang it back after a few days?