A lot of questions - Orchid Board

prc11 · #1 02-06-2011, 12:58 AM

1. Do bulbyforum spikes come the base Of the plant or the leaves?

2. I have a cattleya that has one psuedobulb and one new lead. There are no rotted roots but there is only one small root in its early growth stage. My question is, should I be watering the small root or misting it or as I read somewhere else let it reach for the water. I do not want it to get to dry in worries the new lead my die.

3. I have a phal I bought at wegmans for $5 and it has many wilted leaves and a green spike. Since it has noe root system should I cut the spike that looks like it is try to grow new spikes off of it so it with put it's energy into growing?

4. The orchids that are developing spikes or buds, should I be fertilizing them with a flowering fertilizer or does it matter?

Answer any questions you can. I had so many questions I figured that I should put them into one post instead of four seperate posts.

King_of_orchid_growing:) · #2 02-06-2011, 01:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prc11

1. Do Bulbophyllum spikes come from the base of the plant or the leaves?

The spikes of Bulbos can grow along the rhizome or the base of the pseudobulbs, depending on the species.

I have never seen, nor am I currently aware of any Bulbophyllum that produces spikes from the base of the petiole.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prc11

2. I have a Cattleya that has one pseudobulb and one new lead. There are no rotten roots but there is only one small root in its early growth stage. My question is, should I be watering the small root or misting it, or as I read somewhere else, let it reach for the water. I do not want it to get too dry in worries the new lead my die.

Imo - let it/them reach for the potting media/water.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prc11

3. I have a Phal I bought at Wegmans for $5 and it has many wilted leaves and a green spike. Since it has no root system, should I cut the spike that looks like it is trying to grow new spikes off of it so it will put its energy into growing?

The spike is probably not branching off another flower spike. I think its producing a keiki. If it is a keiki, in this case, perhaps it's best to let it be.

Without a pic, this is just a guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by prc11

4. The orchids that are developing spikes or buds - should I be fertilizing them with a flowering fertilizer or does it matter?

As long as the fertilizer is urea free, the N-P-K ratio is roughly around 20-20-20 (+/- 5), and the orchids get the appropriate concentration of fertilizer per application, it doesn't matter if the fertilizer company is calling their product a "bloom buster" formula or not.