Phrag Eumelia. I am so sad

[BillieG]

My phrag Eumelia opened the most beautiful bloom Tues. Here it is a mere 5 days later and I found the bloom on the floor. What would make it drop it's bloom in only 5 days?

[Optimist]

What is the other part of the story? How long have you had it. Did something change in the culture? The room? Etc.

[BillieG]

I just bought it tues. The man said it bloomed that morning. I have it sitting on the floor by a south window. 72 degrees. Watered it thoroughly wed and sat. The other new orchids (Sorcerers Apprentice, A Sorcerers Apprentice x Wallisi cross, a bulldog paph and a maudiae type) are doing well.

[littlefrog]

Well, either the person you bought it from was not entirely truthful about how long it was blooming, or (perhaps more likely) something about moving the plant stressed it a bit. It isn't that unusual for plants to lose flowers when going from one environment to another.

[Fairorchids]

Individual Phrag flowers do not last that long. Most live 15-20 days, and then they fall off while still looking pristine.

This was probably a flower that had been open a few days, and then got stressed by multiple moves (the final one home to you).

Hope there are more buds on this spike, so you can check normal flower life span.

If you have not grown Phrags before, I recommend putting it in a deep saucer or plastic tray, and letting it stand in at least 1.1/2" of water. If pot is tall, you can increase water level to 1/3 to 1/2 of pot height.

Phrags are the only genus that thrives standing in water. I increased water level in my Phrag tray from 1" to 3" this spring, and plants are going crazy. Plants that always did single new growth are giving me 3 new growths, and all much larger than the old growths.

[MrHappyRotter]

It's exactly what Fairorchids said. The individual flowers of most phrags don't last long, and they literally plop off the flower spike looking perfectly happy and healthy, with little or no sign of wilting or aging. It's just their thing. Even in ideal conditions, under the hands of an expert grower, the same thing is going to happen.

I'm rarely lucky to see 15 or more days on an individual phrag flower, unless it's got a good dose of the caudatum group in it, especially this time of year, so I tend to put the average lifespan closer to the 10 - 14 day range.

However, a lot of phrags produce a multitude of flowers per spike, similar to a gladiola, though they might only have 1 - 3 open at a time, unless the spike branches, or again, unless it's a cross with a lot of influence from the caudatum group (i.e. the long petalled phrags). For instance, I have 2 Eumelia Arias. One produces 2 - 3 flowers per spike, the other produces 3 - 4, but that's still a lot fewer than my other phrags of a similar size.

Specifically with your Eumelia Arias, it's a cross involving kovachii, so the trade off is that you get MUCH larger flowers, but fewer per spike. I've seen them produce 1 - 4 flowers per spike. Keep in mind, that if this is a young plant, and this is its first time blooming, it may only produce a single flower this time, but there's hope that next time it will produce more.

Also, it's possible that there are currently more buds on your plant, but they're small and still developing down in the bract(s) at the tip of the spike.

Finally, another nice thing about phrags is that if they are good and healthy, they grow quickly. And when they grow quickly, that means they can produce spikes multiple times a year once they fully mature. One of my Eumelia Arias, for example, blooms several times a year, and is currently working on another spike.

[DeaC]

If it's any consolation...my phrag. Bessae did the same(at the time I knew nada about this habit) and I almost needed CPR. So upon reading more,this is what happens-a perfectly good flower will drop but hopefully with more buds coming. And yes,keep in a saucer of water. Happy growing!

[BillieG]

I find it hard to understand why phrags are harder to find, more expensive and coveted than paphs, if they are going to drop their blooms so quickly.
My paph's blooms seem to last forever.
I have one more bud on Eumelia. And a saucer of water under it.

[Fairorchids]

Phrags have to be raised from seed, like Paphs. And, they can be difficult to pollinate.

Currently there is a shortage of Phrags (producing nurseries in Hawaii are just about out), this reflects in pricing for the available plants.

9/03 edit: I missed the fact that this is a kovachii hybrid. That species is a fairly recent discovery, so there is a rarity factor, which impacts on the price.

[MrHappyRotter]

Originally Posted by BillieG

I find it hard to understand why phrags are harder to find, more expensive and coveted than paphs, if they are going to drop their blooms so quickly.
My paph's blooms seem to last forever.
I have one more bud on Eumelia. And a saucer of water under it.

Well, to be clear, if the bloom fell off after 5 days, that is well below average. However, yes, compared to many paphs, an individual phrag bloom doesn't last as long on average.

Of course, everybody has their own preferences, and reasons for their preferences, so it's always possible that phrags are not your cup of tea. That being said, there are lots of reasons they would be coveted!

Personally, I'd have a hard time choosing between paphs and phrags. I love both groups for their own reasons, but to be clear, I don't think I'd be able to grow only phrags or only paphs.

Phrags offer some unique colors that simply aren't common or even available in paphs. They excel in the red, orange, and purple range of colors, but there are lots of pinks that are hard to find in paphs as well. The greens, tans, and browns are more interesting to me, and often have more interesting and intricate patterns, that again, you'd be hard pressed to find in paphs.

There are interesting floral traits that make phrags unique and attractive. There are a number of species and hybrids that can produce branched spikes. That's virtually unheard of in paphs. Also, even though this isn't the case with your Eumelia Arias or Phrag. kovachii hybrids in general, keep in mind that many, many other species and hybrids produce numerous individual flowers per spike. So, even if an individual flower only lasts a couple to a few weeks, the spike itself can continue to bloom for months. In fact, it's even possible for some spikes to bloom for a year or more.

But, all that aside, my biggest personal reason for loving phrags is growth. Compared to paphs, these guys grow like weeds. Many of them are happy to sit in water, which significantly simplifies watering in general. There's never any question whether to water or not, never any concern about rotting the roots. Furthermore, many of these guys grow so fast that they can (and often do) bloom several times a year, as each new growth matures. In contrast, many of my paphs only bloom once a year or less, typically "in season".

I can't really speak to the reasons they are harder to find and more expensive directly. I think that paphs are overall more popular, much better known, with far more species and hybrids to choose from. This means that, except in the case of certain species and hybrids, there's a lot more supply of them to help meet demand.

Phrags aren't as well known. There are far fewer species, and by extension, fewer truly distinctive hybrids. Not only that, it wasn't until the 80's and 90's that their popularity really started growing, with the discovery of besseae and its relative(s). Phrag. kovachii only came into the equation much more recently. I guess the point is, in recent history, with these guys being less well-known as a group, there are fewer people breeding them. There's still lots of demand for them, just coming from a smaller pool of people. Then you add in the surges in popularity recently as new species and varieties are discovered, and it doesn't surprise me that prices would go up. Particuarly for hybrids with newer species and perhaps slower growing species like Phrag. kovachii.