Laelia purpurata, new growth from damaged eye!

[tuandatn]

Here's a happy development for you all! The backstory is that there was a developing eye on my purpurata that for reasons I've purged from memory, was damaged and broken off completely from the rhizome. I was very disappointed at the time, and faced that part of the plant away from my usual vantage point. I decided to look at it again today, and to my surprise, it seems as though the new growth is developing despite my best efforts to foil its plans! It doesn't look like much, but the concentric rings we're flush with one another when the eye broke off. Not sure if a lot of folks have seen growth like this from a broken off eye, but I thought it was a neat inside perspective of eye development that is often shielded by, well, the intact eye! I'll update as things progress. Turns out not all bad things that happen with orchids are cause for despair!

[Roberta]

Usually there are two "eyes", so if one is damaged, the other becomes active. So let it do its thing... you very likely will get a new growth.

[tuandatn]

Hi Roberta, yes, the second eye on the other side has started to swell up as well! I was just so surprised that there was growth from the eye that I snapped off!