Surprise Off-Season Bud

[Roly0217]

Junebug I'm sure that the color of the flowers depend on the parents and that they might have some variation in color as well.

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by Roly0217

Junebug I'm sure that the color of the flowers depend on the parents and that they might have some variation in color as well.

Same plant...repeat bloom...different year...different season...different color????

[isurus79]

Give it a few days to open and darken up. High levels of light will also encourage it to get dark. Do you have different levels of light from Feb to July (ie. movement of the sun across the sky causing differing shading regimes)? In the mean time, do you have pics of the "normal" color that we could see to compare?

[Junebug]

Originally Posted by isurus79

Give it a few days to open and darken up. High levels of light will also encourage it to get dark. Do you have different levels of light from Feb to July (ie. movement of the sun across the sky causing differing shading regimes)? In the mean time, do you have pics of the "normal" color that we could see to compare?

The last time it bloomed was around Feb. 2006. It was receiving about the same amount of light and the blooms were intense in color when they opened. Sorry, no photos. I didn't have the digital camera back then. To my recollection the blooms had much more substance with larger thicker petals and they smelled wonderful. This bloom is unscented.

In Dec. of 2007 it had many sheaths and I had increased the light just a bit. This was probably a mistake. The leaves suffered no damage but all the sheaths dried up and there were no blooms produced in Feb.

The general care has been the same. It had been in a sunnier location until about 4 weeks ago. We began having daily thunderstorms so to prevent root rot it was moved to a more sheltered location. It didn't have sheaths at that time. It still receives about 3 to 4 hours of E exposure.

[isurus79]

Its probably just stress flowers then. Ive noticed that sometimes when a plant sends out flowers because it is stressed (the flowers are a last ditch effort to reproduce before death) they are not as nice as the flowers that normally come out. Changing conditions can cause many orchids to pout, therfore, changing conditions several times in less than a year can cause continuous pouting. Increasing the light exposure was probably a good idea. Even though the sheaths dried out, they are usually still viable. I would try to get the plant into a place that you can leave it, no matter what the conditions are (short term moves are ok, ie. a few days, but 4 weeks is a long time). If you are worried about rot, create a potting regime that can handle long periods of water. For example, here in Hawaii we have our rainy season in winter, with a peak in late February into March (keep that in mind when planning a vacation!). I grow all my orchids outside, so all my Catts are in plastic pots with large slits cut down the side and large grade media. This creates a potting system that drys very quickly, thus can handle daily rains for long periods of time. You might consider trying something similar. Constantly moving plants around is not good for them and is a real pain in a#% for the owner!! Good luck!