Is anyone growing Coelogyne Golden Bug and if so how difficult is it? Any temperamental issues to watch for? I ask because I'm considering adding it to my collection but am finding conflicting info on the web (surprise?), from being extremely easy to being very fussy.

I would stick with the AOS info

Thank you, Ted, for the suggestion of checking AOS! It is a great resource for plant's needs - one of several I seek when considering a new, unfamiliar orchid.

AOS (and other sites) gives info about how much light, water etc, but it doesn't really answer my question. Knowing it needs doesn't say anything about how cantankerous it might be or how easy. I'd really like to know how folks who might have this one think about it. I have several Paphs and Phrags for example that like lots of water but that does not speak to whether they are easy or difficult.

Bob,
I think that's a difficult question to answer.
For example Jim and I live within 20 minutes of each other..Elaine and Patty live 70 minutes away..so you might say we have similar growing conditions.
But yet we each have plants that we consider difficult to grow..but the other finds easy... the only way for you to know for certain if a plant is easy or cantankerous..is to buy one and try your hand at growing it.

Thanks, Lindsey. I know you're right; several plants I have I think are the easiest things in the world to grow while others won't touch them because they are "impossible". There are also plants that are extremely easy for even a novice that I can't can't keep alive long enough to get out of a shopping cart! :blushing:

Ted's suggestion caused me to think in more basic terms: what other orchids are similar/related, and how have I fared with them? I know it's no guarantee but it would be a starting point, and then do as you say and give it a whirl.

This is one I would have to order and now that we've hit temps in the teens (and winter hasn't really begun yet) I think I'm going to wait until spring to get it since there's no rush.

I appreciate the responses - often they cause me to think about things from a different angle. As usual people here are great with helping me think in a different direction when I feel stuck.

Again Thanks Ted & Lindsey!

No problem, Bob..I think you are allowed ( even expected) to kill a plant 3 times without guilt...after 3 times though, I think you are expected to give up on it.
Good luck and let us know how it works out for you!

Glad a small suggestion could help. Lindsey, only three times?

I have Coel Golden Bug, growing it for many years. I water it daily, it doesn't like to dry out too much. Light as for Phals is sufficient to bloom.
I "restarted" mine last year, as it tends to walk out of the pot.

and if you google/do a search of Coelogyne Golden Bug here on Garden.org, my posts regarding this one here start up in Oct 2010, pretty much at the beginning of this site. Kathy/@Boojum and I bought these plants in 2007 at a visit to Kathy! And continues yearly.

sugarcane said:..I think you are allowed ( even expected) to kill a plant 3 times without guilt...

I have problems doing the "without guilt" part. Plant funerals are so hard for me, standing there before the compost pile, trying to hold back the tears, always wondering why it's never the dandelions or kudzu. Never quite knowing the appropriate words: "There goes $xx down the drain" just doesn't quite seem right for the eulogy. Then of course there's all those veggies glaring at me at the buffet table afterward... Yes, the guilt runs deep...

Thanks for the input Ursula. That sounds easy enough. I heard someone complain once about some of their orchids "growing too many aerial roots". I wondered what part of epiphyte they didn't quite get.

Well, this one is certainly not a "neat" grower!

Ted, that's what I heard...maybe I mis heard?..is it more than 3????

Bob, I'm half Scot..and believe me I feel your pain about X $'s down the drain!
I have found that I can grow Catt's and set a maximum amount I'm willing to gamble ( just like in Las Vegas!) on anything new ...I've recently been gifted different types of orchids and have given them away rather than deal with the very real possibility of orchid homicide...I'm not sure what the statute of limitations are ..but I'm probably guilty as charged.

I can handle non-neat growers; we raised four boys (and finally a very "neat" girl), so wild roots and vines are a cake walk.

To me it's not really the money but rather felling I let a growing thing down when it dies. I was just thinking about it and realized I have not lost an orchid yet. I had a Lycaste whose roots I discovered were all rotted 3 weeks after I bought it. At a suggestion/encouragement from drdawg and trying a couple little things I found online, I gave it some time & TLC and now it is going crazy with growth. Hopefully in spring it will flower again.

I hear a lot of people say try 3x before giving up on a plant. From now on though I think I'm going to give a plant one try; if I lose it I'll replace it but I'm going to call it a weed and see if that's the secret to making it thrive.
Actually I spend a fair bit of time researching any I'm unfamiliar with before I buy so I have a good idea what it needs; placing it for proper light, and with other plants needing similar watering schedules has improved my odds a lot. Also having an assortment of ones that want lots of attention helps me a lot with ones like orchids that enjoy being ignored. (I have a collection of hardy ferns, Elephant Ears, and pond plants I can water all I want while the orchids and succulents enjoy their "me" time.)

[quote="sugarcane"]Ted, that's what I heard...maybe I mis heard?..is it more than 3????

It probably is three, but sometimes I just don't know when to quit

Bob, your fellow North Carolinians have (had) some thoughts......
J.C. Raulston said if you are not killing plants you are not growing as a gardener and Tony Avant says never give up on a plant until you have killed it 3 times. As long as you learn from your failures you're good.

Hmm. My attitude is the strong will survive, if not flourish. The weak can be replaced at the next show. Since I don't have a climate controlled greenhouse, and Mother Nature is really fickle around here. I would go crazy otherwise.

Tony Avant is my hero...and what he says is the gospel. J.C. Raulston is no dummy either..
Carol...I like your thinking on the next show! especially , since I too grow outdoors and have Mother Nature to deal with!

I have a little 9' X 5' green house, but no way is it climate controlled. My warm growers live in there, but there are a lot that fend for themselves on the covered porch or the flowerbeds under trees.