Bud angle

[Steve83]

Last week I purchased a C jungle beau which had two buds. Over the past couple of days, I saw a tiny bit of red petal at the tips, which has progressed.

I had the plant positioned directly below my lamp, arpproximately 40" away (while I determine how close I can they can get). This morning I moved it up higher, and off to the side approximately 24", and it is somewhat protected by a large bromeliad.

Prior to moving, the buds pointed straight up. When I returned home from work this afternoon, the buds have tilted 45degrees, and are pointing toward the lamp (again). I know some plants often do this when wanting more light, but I wasn't sure if that were the case. The sepal? turned yellowish today as well, but that is also the main color of the flower.

I thought I had read something which mentioned orchid flowers blooming inverted?

So, I'm at a loss if this plant wants more light, or if the movement is standard while they are in the process of blooming. I also picked up a Gomesa crispa (which I've kept tucked further away from the lamp) on the same day which had two spikes in bud, which coincidentally started opening up today.

Thank you in advance

---------- Post added at 01:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:27 PM ----------



---------- Post added at 01:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:33 PM ----------

Pic attached

[Ray]

I would not use buds as an indicator of light level requirements, and suggest you not move a plant's orientation from the light as the buds develop or your flowers may end up facing any which-way, ruining the presentation.

Some plants point their flowers toward the sun, while others do not. The angle of the developing bud to the peduncle or the rest of the plant may be affected by the maturity of the bud, its weight and the hydrostatic turgidity of the plant.

[Steve83]

Thank you Ray, that is exactly the information I wanted. I wasn't expecting these two plants to begin blooming this quickly, and haven't had much time to delve deeply into orchid biology, nor had a chance to meet anyone from the local orchid club (due to covid)

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Steve83

I know some plants often do this when wanting more light, but I wasn't sure if that were the case. The sepal? turned yellowish today as well, but that is also the main color of the flower.

Hi Steve ------ as the orchids don't have brains as such, they don't do something because they 'want more' of something. They have some bio-mechanical features that makes the buds, stems, leaves etc orient in some particular directions from mechanisms that cause it. Eg. if light or heat or something is more on one side ------ then some physical/chemical movements/activity in cells or bunch of cells may become more one one side ----- or deformation of some sort can be more on one side (eg. expansion/contraction - but not sure whether this is involved) ----- and the overall effect will be changes in position, changes in orientation.

Sometimes - (not all the time) - changing the orchid's growing conditions too much, or shifting the orchid around too much can impact negatively the buds development and other features. There are always cases where flowers can turn out upside down etc even if great conditions are provided ------ just depends on the orchid and the way it grew heheh.