Is this bud blast in Miltonia NoId?

[Hedge]

Hi every one,
After two and a third years of waiting, my NoId Miltonia/opsis has finally put up a flower spike. It has suffered greatly due to my mismanagement, and as you can see from the picture showing the whole plant, new growths have been very stunted until this last one (on left) which has produced shoot.

It is currently potted in coconut husk chips and it took it a long time to recover from being repotted - I think I kept it too warm before and watering was erratic. Now to my dismay the buds have gone brown (in last 48hrs). The plant came in bloom with white flowers so is this bud blast?

It is in a warmish spot not in direct sun, as the instructions it came with suggested 50 F to get it to spike and 60 F when in flower. Did I get it too warm too soon? Please advise

[paulemar]

They look blasted to me. It's hard to say exactly what happened and why. It could be as simple as the plant in it's present condition just can't support flowers yet. Or, it could have been chilled, hit with a blast of hot air, dried out too much, rotted roots, bugs, or a million other things. Hopefully, the next growth is going to be stronger and perhaps the conditions will be more favorable for a successful bloom.

Paul

[Sun rm.N.E.]

Hedge

They did not look brown or dead to me in this photo. Let us know what happened.

[Hedge]

So far, no change, it is a slow growing plant and so I am just watching and hoping. Thanks for the encouragement, Sun rmNE - I always try to be patient, it's just the blooms were white and this doesn't look promising!

[camille1585]

Sorry that your buds blasted. Sure looks like they're goners. When did you move the plant to the warmer location? If you didn't move it, think about what else you may have changed while it was budding. Could be as simple as opening a window next to it. For the plants that need cooler temps to spike, and then are moved to bloom (like cyms for example) it's better to move the plant right when the spike is appearing. That way the buds will develop in the warmer environment and won't feel the need to blast.

[Hedge]

Originally Posted by camille1585

Sorry that your buds blasted. Sure looks like they're goners. When did you move the plant to the warmer location? If you didn't move it, think about what else you may have changed while it was budding. Could be as simple as opening a window next to it. For the plants that need cooler temps to spike, and then are moved to bloom (like cyms for example) it's better to move the plant right when the spike is appearing. That way the buds will develop in the warmer environment and won't feel the need to blast.

Yep,Camille, I think they are dead, too. They are going increasingly browner. I moved the plant at the start of my son's Uni holidays (28th march) and the spike formed after that. However the weather has been variable with a completely grey week followed by a bright week (with cooler nights) - i think this one may have to go into a controlled environment to succeed. In the mean time I'll try and keep it alive with cool winters and outdoor summers.

Given the stunted growth do you think I should take it out of the coconut husk and re pot into something a little less quick drying?

Thanks for all helpful comments

Heather

[camille1585]

I think (but am not sure since I don't have any) that miltonopsis love lots of water during the growing season but like to dry out between waterings as well. But I always thought that coconut husk was more of a moisture retentive medium, but maybe that depends on the size of the chunks!