A cure for winter drying of buds and shoots?

[Laserbeak]

It seems like no matter what you do, when it's cold and dry outside you can't keep your orchids completely safe from drafts of dry air. Small exposure doesn't seem to bother the adult tissues, but tender flower buds and new vegetative shoots can be damaged in a very short period of time.

After reading that mineral oil was safe for use on orchids for other uses such as pest control, I got the idea you could use it to kind of seal such things in a waterproof oil. I've tried it and so far, it's working great! No more dropped buds or shriveled shoots.

Maybe other people have been doing this for a long time, but I don't remember reading about it before.

[Optimist]

Intersting. I would worry that the skin of the leaves did not have good air flow. What about glycerine. Like a sport drink? I,d try on the dry roots of my phals. I would like to know what comes of your study.

[james mickelso]

The roots are what get damaged with dry air and drafts. In the tropics, like Brazil, the air is somewhat dry until the middle of the day when it starts to rain. It rains and then it gets dry. Why? The wind blows and dries everything out. Humidity isn't all it's cracked up to be. If your orchids are in the correct media for your conditions lack of humidity shouldn't be a problem. Cold though is another issues altogether.

[NYCorchidman]

I wouldn't coat my plants with oil of any kind.

[james mickelso]

Amen brother!!! Low humidity isn't a problem if the plant is properly hydrated to begin with. During our santa anas out here in the wild west, the RH goes down to the single digits for days and my orchids get along just fine. Bud drop is caused by other things.

[Optimist]

Why don't you just move them to where the environment is more suitable, like to another room that is less dry of drafty? Air flow is very important to orchids also, and so I would think some draft is good as long as it is not a cold biting wind directly on the plant-- and yes, you need to treat seedlings different than adult plants.

[quiltergal]

I have to agree with others here. I would not coat the leaves with anything. It could interfere with plant respiration. I think you have something entirely different going on. The only time I have experienced bud blast is when I bought a plant in spike and brought it home. The change in environment was enough to blast some of the buds, but not all. You may not be watering often enough. When a plant is in spike and especially when it's developing buds you need to make sure it has adequate water. If it gets too dry the buds don't develop properly or not at all. I really don't think low RH is a factor either. My RH on a good day is only 50%. Often in the summer it's down in the teens. When was the last time you checked the roots?

[Optimist]

Good roots are the key to good orchids. I am always looking at the roots and changing the plan to accommodate them.

[Laserbeak]

Originally Posted by Optimist

Intersting. I would worry that the skin of the leaves did not have good air flow. What about glycerine. Like a sport drink? I,d try on the dry roots of my phals. I would like to know what comes of your study.

I was thinking about trying to use glycerine too! I'm not really talking about covering the leaves so completely the plant smothers, just a few tender areas. I'm pretty sure this has saved a Phal spike that I had shipped to me. They were all blasting and I did this to this one plant and all the buds are surviving and opening now.

I am still experimenting with some various ideas, if I find out anything helpful I'll post it.

Originally Posted by james mickelso

Amen brother!!! Low humidity isn't a problem if the plant is properly hydrated to begin with. During our santa anas out here in the wild west, the RH goes down to the single digits for days and my orchids get along just fine. Bud drop is caused by other things.

Good for you! But unfortunately, I haven't had such luck. I've had perfectly lush plants with beautiful, healthy leaves and roots that were well watered just decide to stop growing an entire huge spike and just let it dry out and die.

Originally Posted by Optimist

Why don't you just move them to where the environment is more suitable, like to another room that is less dry of drafty? Air flow is very important to orchids also, and so I would think some draft is good as long as it is not a cold biting wind directly on the plant-- and yes, you need to treat seedlings different than adult plants.

I don't have too many options, as I live in a studio apartment in New York City. However, I have moved my Phals further away from the windows and doors.


Here's a Phal (or really Doritaenopsis) hybrid that I rubbed with some mineral oil using a Q-Tip back when I first got it because all my new plants were dropping their buds.




So despite its problems I think this does have some usefulness, but I'm an experimenter so I will continue to try new things.

[james mickelso]

boy....tough place to try and grow anything. but I like the attitude to try new things. that's how I learn to grow rescues. whatever you can get to work. may be on to something. keep us informed.