Coelogyne Cristata Care Guide: The Best Practices to Follow

Coelogyne Cristata, also called the Angel orchid, is an orchid from the Himalayas that is sought all over the world for its large, full bloom and fresh foliage.

In this guide, you get to learn how to grow them easily by yourself. Taking only a little time and effort out of your busy schedule, you will surely get to experience its beautiful flowers right in your own home when you follow this guide.

Coelogyne Cristata Care

Light Requirements

Since Coelogyne Cristata are indoor plants through and through, you need to keep them out of direct sunlight. This is because they need a medium amount of only filtered or shaded light in order to fulfill their energy and food requirements.

If you decide to keep your orchid near a window, then put a curtain or some other kind of shade on it so that it doesn’t come under direct sunlight. This could lead to a severe scorching of leaves and flowers.

In case of a total absence of natural light, put them under artificial grow lights for at least fourteen to sixteen hours a day. These flowers bloom during winter and last for several weeks until spring arises.

Water Requirements

The water requirements of Coelogyne Cristata can be a bit tricky to get right for your average person with little time to spare.

Continue reading as our florists provide straightforward tricks to hack your way through the water needs of this orchid.

• Water Requirements During Spring and Summer

  • During the period of active plant growth from spring till fall, Coelogyne Cristata needs abundant, frequent watering.
  • Throughout this time, you should not allow the roots to become dry at all.
  • If your Cristata is in potted form, a potting medium that retains moisture for prolonged periods along with frequent watering is a must. We suggest using tree fern fiber, coconut husk, or fir bark as these media retain moisture without getting soggy.
  • If you plan on mounting this orchid bare-rooted, then you must take time out to water them several times per day.

• Water Requirements During Fall and Winter

  • New growths of Coelogyne Ccristata mature around fall/ autumn and this is the time when you should start to decrease both the quantity as well as the frequency of watering.
  • By winter, you only need to be watering them very lightly or occasionally misting them. It is totally normal to see slight shriveling of the foliage and pseudobulbs at this time.
  • If you see leaves from newer pseudobulbs dying at their tips, this is a sign that you need to increase your watering.

Fertilizer Requirements

• During the growth season, we strongly suggest fertilizing every week with an orchid fertilizer mixed at one-quarter to one-half of the recommended strength.
• Regular use of fertilizer will cause a build-up of salts in the potting medium and soil. To prevent and flush out this build-up, you should leech the substrate at least once per month.

• How to leech your potting medium correctly? First of all, water the plant normally and let it sit for at least an hour so that it absorbs all the salt. Then take water double the volume of the pot to flush out this salt-dissolved water out.
• Buy a fertilizer that is low in nitrogen but high in phosphorus content.
• After active growth has stopped around fall, decrease the frequency of fertilization.

Soil

Choosing a suitable potting/ mounting media is a very important initial step to becoming a successful orchid parent.

You should always choose the type of soil that meets the unique properties of the orchid of your choice. Find out the best choice for the Coelogyne orchid below.

You can buy a piece of cork or tree fern slab to mount your orchid in. Keep in mind that this form will require multiple watering each day along with stringent maintenance of high humidity levels year-round.

Potting is the most convenient and popular method of growing orchids among most people. Take shallow pots and fill them with a potting medium that is porous yet retains enough moisture to prevent drying.

Our orchid growers have had a great experience with using medium-grade fir bark or tree fern mixed with charcoal, sphagnum moss, or perlite as media. Tree fern fibers don’t break as easily as fir bark. This means you will not have to do much frequent repotting.

This orchid looks absolutely splendid hanging down from a beautiful basket. We mostly use baskets that are made up of quarter-inch-thick mesh hardware cloth that is lined with sphagnum moss or coconut fibers.

Temperature

This is one of those orchids that need low temperatures throughout the year. If you expose it to higher temperatures in summer, it will not bloom that year.

The temperature should not be more than 73 Fahrenheit. Ideal winter temperatures should be 55-61 Fahrenheit during the day and 45 to 50 Fahrenheit at night for it to flower.

Humidity

Your Coelogyne Cristata will have to be exposed to seventy to eight percent surrounding humidity levels during the active growth season. You can decrease humidity during the winter rest period to about fifty percent.

Some ways you can provide such high humidity levels without a greenhouse are:

• Keep a watered pebble tray under your pots or mounts.
• Huddle similar plants together.
• Regularly mist your orchids.
• Buy a quality humidifier.

– Air Circulation

Good air circulation prevents water drops from staying on the plant surface long enough to cause rot. It also contributes to the breathability of the plant.

Keep Coelogynes near a fan or an open window. Do not cluster them too tightly together. Keep away from air vents, though.

Repotting

This orchid isn’t really fond of repotting very frequently and tends to get disturbed during the process more often than florists would like. Here are a few potting tricks we have learned over the years for this one:

• Use the right size of pot or basket, to begin with. It shouldn’t be too large but provide enough space to allow Coelogyne Cristata to grow undisturbed for at least four years.
• You can also delay repotting by removing old dead pseudobulbs regularly.
• If your orchids are in a mounted state, you can simply add another piece of slab or cork to the existing one instead of changing the whole thing.
• Repotting, when done necessary, should be done in early spring right after the flowering season is over.

Propagating Coelogyne Cristata

Take a knife and cut out a reasonable section of a rhizome and follow the steps below:

1. This section should not be so small that it would take years for the orchid to grow nor too large to disturb the parent plant.
2. The rhizome should have an associated new pseudobulb along with two or three older ones.
3. Plant them in a suitable orchid medium under the right conditions as mentioned above.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I protect Coelogyne cristata from excessive rain?

To protect Coelogyne cristata from excessive rain, ensure proper drainage and provide a sheltered area or cover with a plastic sheet.