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Originally Posted by xxkarliexx
and what about the one that has buds that never opened? ive seen orchids bought that obviously need repotting but their blooms at least opened before anything bad starts happening. what could cause that? just another simple case of possible root rot and need of repotting?
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Blooms are a poor indicator of plant health. Just because an orchid blooms doesn't necessarily mean that the plant is as healthy as can be.
One of the possibilities of seeing blooms on an orchid is that the plant just has enough energy in its reserves to push out its reproductive organs. Essentially, it can quite possibly be the orchid's bail out plan during times of extreme crisis - all or nothing into the blooms and seeds when its terminally ill.
The thing you must understand and record permanently in your memory is that a plant's flowers
are their reproductive organs (aka genitalia). It's not a matter of "like their genitalia", or "kinda their genitalia", or even "kinda like their genitalia"; flowers are for sex, and they are
exactly what I just said they are - plant genitals. Not a very flattering description of them, I know, but it's true.
With orchids, they don't react to certain stimuli on the same time frame that we do.
What I mean is this...
When we touch a hot stove by accident, a fraction of a second goes by before our pain receptors in our fingers relay the pain message to our brains and back. We then react to this stimuli.
Well, with orchids, there is a delay. The roots may have all died out, but the plant still looks as if nothing's happened for nearly two weeks to a month, maybe longer in some cases.
You wanna know if your orchid is doing well, I recommend doing a physical check up of your plant first, starting with the roots/tuberoids/tuberous growths - (I include tuberoids and tuberous growths because most tuberoids and tuberous growths are usually formed out of root stock/root cells). If the roots are fine, then you check the stems/pseudobulbs/corms - (I include corms here because they are usually formed from the same type of cells as stems; and pseudobulbs are included here because they are modified stems). If the stems, pseudobulbs, or corms are fine, then you check the leaves. If the leaves are fine, then you check the buds/blooms.
So again, the
strict order of checking for plant health physically the correct way is as follows (starting from #1):
1. roots/tuberoids
2. stems/pseudobulbs/corms
3. leaves
4. buds/blossoms
In the odd case of orchids that are "leafless", the main check point are the roots. These orchids can function mostly on the photosynthetic processes of their roots. Yes, many epiphytical orchids have roots that are capable of photosynthesis - this includes Phals and Oncs. The word "leafless" is in quotes because some of them actually do produce leaves, but they are somewhat poorly formed. Neither will these guys have what are considered true stems. What they have instead of a stem is a microscopic (or macroscopic if you really wanna nitpick) clump of cells concentrated in the center of where the roots originate from called meristematic cells.
Then you check for very basic physiological signs such as plant vigor and how well they can reproduce asexually, and how well they can recover from minor to moderate physical damage or disease (can vary from species to species, individual to individual). This is a matter of getting to know your plants.
GANG OF ORCHIDS NEED HELP!!!!!
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