misshaped flower - why?

[mexorchid]

my Paph got this flower over 1 month ago. Do you have any idea how it can come to a misshaped flower like this? Are the flowers in the future all gonna look like this or does that happen sometimes on a first bloom? Did I do something wrong with it?
Would you advice to cut it off so the orchid can concentrate rather on growing bigger?

[Bloomin_Aussie]

You really need to wait until it flowers again. It looks like a nice healthy plant so could have been damage to the forming bud, excess or change in fertilisers or simply bad genes.

Probably not a bad idea to snip it and let the plant concentrate on growing more.

[Ghosthunt64]

Don't know, but I'm with Bloomin_Aussie; see what happens next time. Post the results, normal or deformed, I'm curious to see.

[quiltergal]

It's not unusual for first blooms to be a bit wonky. That said a number of variables can affect the growth of the bud. Too dry, too hot, overuse of Superthrive, etc. Keep in mind that plants in bud/bloom require a bit more water than they normally would.

I'd cut the flower as it isn't much to look at. Hopefully next year it will give you a normally shaped one.

[mexorchid]

Thanks everybody for your in put! I'll cut the flower and see how it does next time.

[mexorchid]

a nice surprise when coming back from holiday (Panama - trees full of orchids!): the flower has finally opened and it looks all normal and beautiful this time

[vjo]

That was fast, mine seem to take forever...very nice.... Jean

[OCRC_Dir_China]

Great......

[NYCorchidman]

It is the genes.

It is not necessarily the first time bloomer thing as I have gone through so many first time bloomer and have never seen this kind of malformation.

It can happen at a random time, so you never know.
So far, this maudiae type of hybrids have been good to me.

I have seen some real bad malformed and streaked flowers in complex hybrids quite often.

I tossed one that I bloomed three or four times, and each time it was a "freak" of some sort. lol

---------- Post added at 12:43 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:38 PM ----------

Originally Posted by vjo

That was fast, mine seem to take forever...very nice.... Jean

It is highly individual. Many of these maudiae type hybrids tend to grow fast and bloom often, but not all.

Some are bad!

or may take a while until it reaches certain size until they start blooming more often.

[Fairorchids]

Random misshaped flowers do happen. In the Northeast US there were more than usual in the 2013/2014 blooming season, indicating that there could be an environmental factor (temperature or humidity fluctuation, or a combination of both).

Since Paph buds develop over a 5+ month period, this could be something that took place back in the fall.