Just Moth Orchid ?'s

[CJR66204]

How many Buds does a Moth Orchid Spike usually have on it? "Not Store bought?" Also I have seen that my spikes on this Orchid are also kind of short! I was told that is because it was getting to much light and I should move it away from the light? I also have another one that the spikes are really skinny?

Any help would do and be great...!

Thanks so much....

Pics

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3/SAM_0775.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3/SAM_0776.JPG

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/...3/SAM_0777.JPG

[HighSeas]

Personally I think they are beautiful! They have their place! I have some with spikes so long that they are really just in the way. I like a nice short spike here and there! Beautiful and they are quite healthy!

[CJR66204]

Thank you HighSeas.....

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Originally Posted by CJR66204

How many Buds does a Moth Orchid Spike usually have on it?

Depends on the species or type of hybrid in question. It varies.

The number of buds will also vary from spike to spike, (within the same plant), and individual to individual, (within the same species or hybrid).

Originally Posted by CJR66204

"Not Store bought?"

I don't mean to sound crass, but this information is not pertinent to the question you're asking. It might be pertinent for other matters, but not the one you're asking about.

Store bought or not, the answer to the question of how many buds a spike has or how long the spike will be is best answered by knowing the hybrid's name or the species' name.

Originally Posted by CJR66204

Also I have seen that my spikes on this Orchid are also kind of short!

Be patient grasshopper, the spikes are not fully grown.

Originally Posted by CJR66204

I was told that is because it was getting to much light and I should move it away from the light?

I wouldn't recommend keeping the spikes away from the light unless you want twisted spikes. Phalaenopsis spikes will usually orient themselves towards the light.

If you keep the spikes away from the light - guess what…the spike will start growing in the direction of the light source, which = twisty spikes.

Originally Posted by CJR66204

I also have another one that the spikes are really skinny?

The thickness of the spikes depend on the type/species of Phal you have. They're not all the same.

Hope this answers your questions.

If you have others, go ahead and ask.

[CJR66204]

Thanks king of Orchid Growing. That helps a lot i am just glad am on the right track!

thanks so much

---------- Post added at 09:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:18 PM ----------

king of orchid growing: The reason i was asking is when i bought them at the grocery store they had lots of flowers/blooms and now 2 years later after financially nursing them back to health, they are flowering. it doesn't seem like they have as many buds. i was just curious, maybe they needed more light or fertilizer. i know, i should just be patient.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Did the plant throw out 1 or 2 spikes the previous season?

[james mickelso]

You needed to grow the plants in the same environmental conditions as they were grown by the original grower. That means warm (80-90*f), very humid (80%), with very good water, the maximum light level the hybrid/species the plant will grow at, the correct amount of fertilizer, ect. The grower tailors the environmental conditions to what type plant he is growing for the market. They are grown by the 10's of thousands. Soon I will be making a trip to Gubler's Orchids up in the high desert and will try and take pics for all of you showing how large an operation commercial growers are.

[RosieC]

Originally Posted by King_of_orchid_growing:)

I don't mean to sound crass, but this information is not pertinent to the question you're asking. It might be pertinent for other matters, but not the one you're asking about.

Store bought or not, the answer to the question of how many buds a spike has or how long the spike will be is best answered by knowing the hybrid's name or the species' name.

Sorry, but I disagree. Genetics has a lot to do with it, but a plant grown in perfect conditions of a nursery will have far more flowers than one flowered in most people's conditions at home.

For example Phal Mini Mark is genetically tilted towards a lot of flowers/spikes. I've had two at different times. Both were bought with 5 very full spikes of flowers. When they have bloomed at home I've always had two spikes at once. This is still more than I get on many other phals, but not as many as they came from the nursary with. After having them a few years, they were struggling, and one of them only gave one spike that year.

Same with most of my others. I generally buy them with two spikes, but expect only one in the future.

I see over and over again that a plant will genetically be prone to more flowers than others, or to more branching than others, or to only a few flowers at a time. If I buy one with masses of flowers and spikes I expect to get more out of it in my care than I would out of one bought with just a few flowers or one spike... that's the genetics of it. However if you are not growing in a carefully controlled greenhouse you will almost never get the same number of flowers as the nursery did in their carefully controlled greenhouse.

Just my

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

I interpreted the whole "store bought" thing differently.

I wasn't thinking about the conditions of the store because the store usually receives the plant in spike or in bud already. The stores do not usually induce the plants to bloom nor re-bloom. Neither do they have the intention of hanging on to these plants for much longer. Once the flowers fade, that's when they go on the sale/discount racks. They don't want them anymore. After the blooms drop, they're not sale worthy. That's why people get them for $2 US when they go for $10 or $15 when they're in full bloom. If people do not pick them up from the sale/discount racks, then they go into the trash bin. Phal hybrids are cloned by the millions and it is inexpensive to continue doing it this way, that's why this practice goes on.

The nursery that the plants come from do have the conditions to induce blooms, but not necessarily the stores we all purchase them from.

These ideal conditions are nursery grown conditions, not store bought conditions.

For example, Trader Joe's or Vons has them for sale in the cut flower section along with their random potted plants. That section is pretty cool comparatively speaking to what the Phals get in an actual nursery that deals in growing them out.

[RosieC]

You are right. The store it comes from has absolutely no bearing on how many flowers/spikes the plant has.

I read 'store bought' as meaning that plus the previous nursery conditions

We're both right then