Quote:
Originally Posted by camille1585
I don't think it matters. Most of the plant's energy went to producing the spike and blooms, and maintaining the flowers is not particularily demanding, at least for a healthy plant.
The only reason why removing blooms would extend the lifespan of the others by a little bit is that you are removing an ethylene source. As a flower ages (or a fruit ripens), it starts to produce ethylene, which is a gas which triggers the aging process in other flowers. That why, for instance, it's bad to keep ripe fruit (especially bananas) near blooming plants. I lost an entire spike of Phal blooms once because I did that...
But as the senescence process is likely largely underway in the neighboring blooms, I don't think that removing a wilted bloom will make much of a difference. I've never seen much of a difference on my plants anyway.
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Oh gosh, I know about that darn ethylene gas.
I go nuts when my family puts bananas on top of the apples because it just makes the bananas go brown SO fast!! Grr!
Now I can freak out if I see someone putting apples near my orchids as well!
As a chemist, I should really have a better understanding of how ethylene gas contributes to ripening... off to the science databases I go!