blooming flower is dying - Orchid Board

fieldsofgold · #1 01-24-2009, 02:43 PM

Hello everyone!

I have a Phalaenopsis given to me by a friend. Two of the flower buds started opening last Sunday. One of them stopped opening completely and is starting to become droopy and loose its colour, from white to brown. I have attached some pictures of my baby

The orchid is in a clear plastic pot with spagnum moss and the last time it was watered was 2 weeks ago. This morning I checked the roots which were green and the moss is still moist with water droplets on the plastic walls.

Can you please help me.

In the pictures you can see that the bud is wilting, traced i blue

greenbean · #2 01-24-2009, 03:04 PM

That's bud blast. It's not life threatening, but it ruins the blooms for the season and it can signify bigger problems. I know that buds can wilt when exposed to a sudden change in temperature. Maybe it happens if the plant stays too wet also? Is the sphag really compacted or is it loose and airy? Sounds like maybe your Phal needs to be repotted in fresh medium. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

Swamper · #3 01-24-2009, 03:08 PM

welcome to the board fields. where do you live. where do you grow it? indoors or outdoors?

fieldsofgold · #4 01-24-2009, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenbean

That's bud blast. It's not life threatening, but it ruins the blooms for the season and it can signify bigger problems. I know that buds can wilt when exposed to a sudden change in temperature. Maybe it happens if the plant stays too wet also? Is the sphag really compacted or is it loose and airy? Sounds like maybe your Phal needs to be repotted in fresh medium. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

The sphag is really compacted and there are some dead roots on the bottom due to my over-watering when I first got it (it's been a month now)

I wanted to change the medium but when I went to an orchid store the lady told me to wait till the season ends with all the flowers gone.

I live in Houston, Texas, and it grows indoors on my nightstand facing West.

greenbean · #5 01-24-2009, 03:33 PM

I've seen a lot of varying opinions on this, but the most common one on the OB is repot when the plant needs it. Since you're already starting to lose blooms, I would say it's better to save the plant so that you can have blooms in the years to come. Often, you'll still get flowers from that spike after repotting anyways, so long as you're careful and the buds aren't damaged.

I'm not the best at repotting, but one recommendation I will make is when you repot, either 86 the sphag entirely in favor of a more open medium, or mix coarse bark, marble chips, perlite or something like that in with the sphag to keep it from compacting. Personally, I will be trying the latter next time I repot.

BikerDoc5968 · #6 01-24-2009, 04:06 PM

This is bud blast as I have come to know the problem. It occurs when there is a temperature change or a cool breeze. I've had it happen to larger buds and they ALWAYS turn this sick-looking yellow color. These are from three different plants. The last has an additional problem which I think may be due to using too much SuperThrive..... You can see the spike is deformed and the flower buds don't look normal. Can't tell you why your flower is wilting but at this stage of it opening, I don't think it is blast.... but then maybe my definition of "bud blast" is incorrect.

priz_m · #7 01-24-2009, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fieldsofgold

The sphag is really compacted and there are some dead roots on the bottom due to my over-watering when I first got it (it's been a month now)

I wanted to change the medium but when I went to an orchid store the lady told me to wait till the season ends with all the flowers gone.

I live in Houston, Texas, and it grows indoors on my nightstand facing West.

I am sorry about your blooms but let's talk about your phal.

I would recommend you repot immediately, root rot is very common due to over watering and since you already see dead roots you might as well take the firs step to fix it.

I too waited until my phal lost the flowers and I almost lost the plant.

Here's a helpful link on how to repot phals. BTW if you have a tendency to overwater I would suggest bark or other media that retains less water that compacted sphag.

Easy Orchids - Re Potting A Phalaenopsis

keep us posted

Gin · #8 01-24-2009, 04:54 PM

Almost all my Phals. are in Spag . with pieces of styrofoam non melting type mixed in to keep it open it is also not packed tight in the pot I don't like to mix Spag. with bark because of the different drying times and aging of the mix .
I agree with Doc does not look like regular bud blast . But could be from several things gas leaks ,cold drafts, also brown scale on the spike will cause blooms to wilt . Gin

BikerDoc5968 · #9 01-24-2009, 05:14 PM

Gin makes another very good point about potting mixes. I, personally, don't like sphag because I have a heavy watering hand and just can't resist over-nurtuing the chids so I use bark mixed with CHC and charcoal. What is important is that you don't mix things that dry at significantly different rates. That's not to say you can't use one type of media for some plants that may have higher water requirements and something else that requires less....jsut be consistent with your plantings otherwise you'll go crazy remembering what's what!

fieldsofgold · #10 01-25-2009, 07:04 PM

Many thanks to you all for your great advice!!!

I think the problem lies in the cold draft that came into my room. I've left the window open for 48 hours when a cold wind came. BAD idea! The other bud is opening up quiet well!! and in good color.

I will definitely repot my orchid asap. Would you all recommend the orchid mix (bark) that Home Depot sell?