Can cold weather change Phal bloom color?

[Lilly B]

I have had this Phal (PHal. Mount "NC" x Phal. Luchia Pink "CM" on tag) for 7 years and it has always been a pale pink. This year she is pale pink but with what looks like a Purple Splash effect. We have had cold weather early in the season here in Florida and I was wondering if this could cause the flowers to have different coloring from what it has always had before. Has anyone else ever experienced this? The coloring in the throat is also a much stronger red than it has been in the past. If the weather is back to normal next year, will her color also go back to what it was?

[rangiku]

Lilly, from what I've read, temperature can affect color.

[Paul Mc]

Really?! I did not know that! Great question!

[billc]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that on Phrags the color is much more intense when they are grown cooler. Phals may react the same. On my Phals, the color seems to get washed out a bit if the flower develops in strong light. The few I have on the windowsill are paler where the flower faces the window, and richer where they face away.

Bill

[Lilly B]

Oddly, outside of the first year when I kept moving her around to see where she liked it the best, she's been in the same spot for almost 6 years. This morning I checked on her keiki (almost 5 years old now) and she is doing the same thing but not quite as boldly. I think it's a nice effect on her, just seemed very odd. It was like having an old friend show up with a new hair color. Nice but confusing.

[Pilot]

Temperature can have a major effect on the color of a bloom on any plant. Besides orchids, I also grow, extensively, a plant called hippeastrum (commonly and incorrectly known to the general public as amaryllis).

A friend of mine grows the same flower as I called Brendan's Flower and it is a unique and interesting bloom. However, he lives in Phoenix (quite hot most of the year) and I in Denver (can be hot but we always have cool/chilly nights). The color difference can be dramatic with the exact same bloom.

His...

Mine...


Both very beautiful blooms but the temperature difference seems to make a difference in their actual blooms. Our culture is slightly different too but these plants are stable in that they're bulbs and they have what they need at the time of bloom-- fertilizer etc does little to affect the bloom once the plant has begun the process.

Cold temps are definitely able to change the color of the bloom but my thoughts are that it is the temp difference is what does the trick, too (day vs night).

I have had examples of this in orchids, too, but have no photos for evidence. My summer blooms are already pale in comparison to my Winter blooms of the same plants when they on occasion will bloom again in the Summer.

[Eyebabe]

I think this looks like a color break from ORSV.
You should get your plant tested for virus and keep it relatively isolated from the rest of your collection until you know for sure.

Cold can vary coloration but it should not be blotchy and broken...

[Lilly B]

Thanks for the photos Ryan. I also grew hippeastrum when I lived up north. I loved them in pots around the fireplace for Christmas. Always a fantastic display. Yours is beautiful and I can see the variance between the two flowers you posted. It does make sense that temp would impact the flower. I also have spikes that have stalled, something they have never done before and I've had them for years. We had a lot of weird cold, wet weather here in Florida. Everyone, including me, was moving their plants in and out of the house way too many times.

Eyebabe - I have checked the leaves and outside roots. Since she is nowhere near her keiki and the keiki is also doing the same thing doesn't the virus seem less likely? Wouldn't it be odd for both mother and daughter to have the same virus when they are not living close to each other? Let me know what you think. Where would I go to get the orchid tested for a virus?

[Eyebabe]

Originally Posted by Lilly B

Eyebabe - I have checked the leaves and outside roots. Since she is nowhere near her keiki and the keiki is also doing the same thing doesn't the virus seem less likely? Wouldn't it be odd for both mother and daughter to have the same virus when they are not living close to each other? Let me know what you think. Where would I go to get the orchid tested for a virus?

Actually, if mother and daughter BOTH have the same color breaking then it is MORE likely to be a virus.
Virus does not show up in many many plants until the viral load is high enough to create the undesired effect. It may take a few cycles of blooming to really show itself.
The mother would definitely pass the virus to her keiki.
The plant was likely virused when you bought it
I have included some pics below of the color break virus in a George King 'Serendipity'. The first pic is the first blooming...very subtle if not looking for it. The second is the next season's bloom...can't miss it

ELISA tests can be obtained from Agdia but you must buy 25 tests ($125).
I'd bring it to your local orchid society and get some opinions there and maybe someone can sell you a test for $5-$7 which is usually what an orchid vendor would charge to test a plant. It's probably worth 5 bucks to know since you have TWO plants with the same color break pattern.

Good luck and I hope I'm wrong

[Lilly B]

I can see it in the flowers of the second photo you posted. My flowers are actually perfectly shaped and nice and flat. No rippling. I've had her 7 years and the baby is 5 years old now. How does this virus spread? I keep all my Phals in one area together so if she came with it would she already have spread it to all the rest?