White Phalaenopsis flowers turning green-ish

[Kyclimberchick]

I feel like I read something about this once but I'm not finding anything... must be using the wrong search term.

I had a mini white phal that slowly developed a green tinge on the flowers both front and back (2nd pic) during its first Bloom with me. The coloring was the same during its second bloom, white tinged with green. And now I have a very light pink/white large phal (1st pic) that is turning green where it was once white. Unfortunately I seem to have deleted all my before pictures of these two orchids.

Typically don't I have white (whitish) phals. These two were probably in the lowest light of the room. Now this room does have really large West and North Windows and is fairly bright in general. All of my colored phals are fine. I did have a yellow that faded once I brought it into my house but when it rebloomed, it was again a deep yellow.

Orchids were purchased different places. I use MSU fertilizer just about every watering in spring summer at a quarter strength. I'm using a repotme potting mix with more sphagnum Moss. Distilled water.

Thanks for any insight!

[Ray]

Chlorophyll is a plant pigment. Pigments develop differently based upon light level, temperature, and likely other factors.

Nothing odd about those. The white one looks particularly nice, in my book.

[Dimples]

My white and white-ish Phal flowers always start out some level of green, sometimes very very green, and the green fades to white after they open. Sometimes the green tinge sticks around in spots.

Plants in low light often produce more chlorophyll in an effort to make better use of the available light. I’d imagine that could also show up in the flowers.

[Roberta]

The green could also be a natural part of the plant's color, that someone actually bred for. I like it!

[Kyclimberchick]

Neither of them had any green when I bought them. Unfortunately, I don't like the green at all 🙁 And it persisted through the next blooming even in more light.

I do have one other Mini that is mostly white and in a similar light and it hasn't turned green at all. I've had it longer than the pink and white one that is now green tinged.

[Roberta]

Unless they all have the same name, they likely have different ancestors. There are many, many different crosses that yield white mini-phals, and under varying conditions the characteristics of the different ancestry may manifest itself. Genetics can play all sorts of tricks - even clones can develop mutations and not be exact copies. These are living things.

[Dimples]

Commercial nurseries give plants much higher light, and for a longer duration, than most people can provide indoors without supplemental lighting. “Bright indirect light” may only provide a maximum of 200-500 foot candles, and only for a few hours a day. The rest of the time will be dimmer (especially with the fog in SF), so even in the brighter spots your plants may not be receiving as much light as you think. Can you put them outside somewhere in the shade?

[Roberta]

I wonder if this plant has the similar ancestry to this one which I saw in a vendor email newsletter (which I don't think is a mini, but has the same behavior) Phal. Heliodor '''Darwin''' (Jiuhbao Stream x Morning Moon) - OrchidWeb - opens white and then develops the green. This may be a new trend in breeding... growers going to some effort to get the effect. You may or may not like it, but it likely is not something that you can affect by culture - it's in the genetics. If you don't like it, someone else likely will love it. Not a bargain if it doesn't please you, but certainly of a quality that it would make a nice gift.

[Dimples]

I like some of the green tinted ones too. The white with green is really nice. I have a “gold” Phal that starts out very green and slowly fades to a nice yellow. When my maroon/purple harlequin keeps a bit of the green it does look a bit off. Rehoming the ones you’re not in like/love with sounds like a great plan.

[Kyclimberchick]

Interesting. This does look a bit my mini white phal. The color pattern is the same. Thanks for the information!