Tips for Coelogyne cristata and fimbriatum.

[Keithj]

I bought one of each yesterday from Burnham Orchids at the “Orchids For Everyone” weekend at the RHS Harlow Carr Gardens in Yorkshire. They are in 9cm/3.5 inch pots. The cristata looks like a fairly conventional sympodial orchid but fimbriatum is anything but! It’s growing in all directions, mostly out of the pot, and although it looks healthy overall the roots outside the pot appear to have died.

To give an idea of the extent of the thing I could just about get all of the growth into a 19cm pot but it just looks all wrong. As an engineer, the motto “if it looks right it is right” was a byword in my career and I’m applying the same to my orchids. I don’t think I have the right conditions to mount it so I was wondering about taking a somewhat similar approach that might not need to be watered as much.

We have some long, shallow trays knocking about that we once used under windowsill troughs. I was thinking of putting a layer of bark in a tray and laying the fimbriatum on top. I can drill the tray to avoid it getting waterlogged. My idea is that this will give it the room to extend without having to put it into the very top of a large pot.

Thought, comments and criticisms, please.

The other query is about one of the new growths on the cristata. It looks like it’s been damaged at some point and has set off at right-angles to the original stem. There’s a second growing tip under the deformity.

Again, all ideas are welcome.

Keith