Buds blasting instead of opening

[butterfly_muse]

Evening, all.

I have a mini NoID phal in my kitchen window which is in spike and growing buds only to blast them. I am not sure what I am doing wrong..=\ I haven't moved it, and I have kept up with its watering/fertilizing schedule (do I need to do more??). It is not any more warm in the window now than it has been. I have been opening the windows at night, and it has gone into the mid-upper 50s and low 60s...Is that causing it? Just to check, I left the window closed this week at night and it's still blasting...

So now I'm completely out of ideas. Help!

[tucker85]

There are many environmental conditions that can cause bud drop and it's impossible to know which one is causing your problem. Some orchids seem to be more susceptible to bud drop than others. Temperatures into the upper 50's when you open the windows shouldn't be a problem but cold drafts on a plant can be a cause of bud blast. When you open the windows, you may want to place the orchids in a location where they won't receive a direct cold draft. But I don't know if it will help or not. I do think that watering and fertilizing on your regular schedule is the right thing to do. Good luck.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by tucker85

There are many environmental conditions that can cause bud drop and it's impossible to know which one is causing your problem. Some orchids seem to be more susceptible to bud drop than others. Temperatures into the upper 50's when you open the windows shouldn't be a problem but cold drafts on a plant can be a cause of bud blast. When you open the windows, you may want to place the orchids in a location where they won't receive a direct cold draft. But I don't know if it will help or not. I do think that watering and fertilizing on your regular schedule is the right thing to do. Good luck.

Thanks...I only open the window about a half to one inch at most (my cats can get out by pushing their faces into the screen so we can't open the windows too far), and that particular orchid is at least a foot away from the opening. I don't think it can get a cold draft where it is (I could be wrong, though).

[Island Girl]

Has the humidity dropped lately? It has here, and that seems to help my flowers fade a little faster in the past week or two... Maybe that, combined with the cool temps, is what's doing it? (my buds haven't been blasting, but my temps are not that low, as, for the most part, I've moved my chids back inside) But I dunno, as Tucker said, it could be any number of things..... Sorry, wish I could help more.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

Has the humidity dropped lately? It has here, and that seems to help my flowers fade a little faster in the past week or two... Maybe that, combined with the cool temps, is what's doing it? (my buds haven't been blasting, but my temps are not that low, as, for the most part, I've moved my chids back inside) But I dunno, as Tucker said, it could be any number of things..... Sorry, wish I could help more.

It's possible, to be honest I couldn't tell you. Our electricity bill has been really high (old apartment, old system) so we've been going mostly with having the windows open and the fans going. It is extremely humid in that window, as it's not a well ventilated part of the apartment and the heat rises into it while I'm cooking. It's also next to our refrigerator, which keeps things really, really warm and humid up there. All of my other plants are like "YIPPEEEEE!" lol, except that one. I don't know!

[Island Girl]

Are they blasting when they are small, or when they are fully formed? Maybe it just doesnt have the energy? (wild guess) Are the roots ok? I doubt it's got anything to do with a lack of water or fert, as you said that you've been doing it on your regular schedule... Which is what I would suggest as well... Increasing it could potentially cause rot (depending on the situation).

Edit: maybe it's getting large temperature swings? You mention cooking, and it getting really hot, but then being beside a window with temps at 50°-60° is a fairly large swing for phal flowers... Maybe it just needs more stable temps?

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by Island Girl

Are they blasting when they are small, or when they are fully formed? Maybe it just doesnt have the energy? (wild guess) Are the roots ok? I doubt it's got anything to do with a lack of water or fert, as you said that you've been doing it on your regular schedule... Which is what I would suggest as well... Increasing it could potentially cause rot (depending on the situation).

Edit: maybe it's getting large temperature swings? You mention cooking, and it getting really hot, but then being beside a window with temps at 50°-60° is a fairly large swing for phal flowers... Maybe it just needs more stable temps?

They are blasting before they are fully formed. =\ It's like they are *almost* there but then just give up. What you said about the temperature could be, I could keep it up there and just not open the window and move my other mini to a different window. The reason I was opening the window was to encourage spiking on the other one since our temperatures are appropriate this time of year. =) I can see if that helps.

The roots are okay, I pulled out a giant wad of moss (cuz you know how they come in sphag ugh) but just enough to loosen it up. It really liked where it was living, so I kept it in the moss because I got it in spike and didn't want to shock it by repotting or changing the medium.

[quiltergal]

Are they near any ripening fruit like bananas? The gas fruit gives off can cause bud blast.

[butterfly_muse]

Originally Posted by quiltergal

Are they near any ripening fruit like bananas? The gas fruit gives off can cause bud blast.

Nope, it's up in the window with another mini phal, some sort of generic house ivy (I have no idea what it is, it was a Lowes plant, lol), and an African Violet. And directly below them on my countertop is just my knife block and food scale.

[naoki]

I thought this is interesting:

Big Leaf Orchid forum • View topic - Flower mites inside unopened buds!