Bud Development, why does it speed up after the first opens

[RosieC]

Ok, I've been wondering this for a while.

It seems to me that when Phal (maybe other chids as well) flowers the first bud takes ages and ages to develop, then when the first flower opens the other buds suddenly speed up their development and open not long afterwards.

Take my Phal which has just opened as an example, the first bud seemed to be at opening size for a couple of weeks, then when it opened the second got to the same size within a couple of days and the third (in the photo below) grew quickly and is almost ready to open about a week after the first.

Am I just imagining it?
Do the later ones actually open quicker?
WHY does this happen?

[Ross]

Don't know that much on Phals, but it is common for a spike to sit and mature and then for sections of buds to open all at once. Doesn't always seem to occur in a certain order either. But so far, I have never seen the end bud open first (that I recall).

[magicatt]

Your not imagining it. Mine do it too. I couldn't tell you why though.

[camille1585]

I noticed the same thing as well. In fact I've been watching the first bud swell and swell on two phals for the last couple days. They are taking forever to open! I always thought that it was my mind playing with me. After all, I'm always so impatient for that first one to open (making it seem slower), and after that I pay less attention (making them seem to grow faster) Maybe it's a mix of both (natural and mind games)?

[RosieC]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to have seen this, I wonder why it is.

I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining it this time, in this case the first bulb looked large enough to open for over two weeks, when it finally opened the second blub was significantly smaller but within a couple of days it was the size of the first and starting to open, a few days later the third was ready even though it was also very small when the one before opened.

My husband and I have two thories...

1. Before the first bulb opens the spike is still growing so the plant is putting a lot of energy into growing the spike as well as several bulbs. When the first opens the spike also seems to halt at that point so the plant then has more energy to grow the bulbs. As each bulb opens the plant does not need to put much energy into that flower so has more to spare for faster growing of the remaining bulbs.

2. The plant releases a hormone as the first flower opens which causes the faster growth of the remaining bulbs.

The last one is somewhat intersting to me just now... If that hormone is released into the air it might explain why my second phal in the room has stopped growing it's spike at quite a short hight (about half what I would expect) and is starting to grow bulbs pretty fast.

Or maybe that is the weather which have a very cold snap recently and might have stunted the spike growth.

Oh well, I wondered if anyone here knew the reason, but I'll just have to stick with theories.