Help! getting dyed blue phal back to white

[wilsywils]

So my boyfriend is very sweet and means well. He knows I love orchids so he took it upon himself to get me one for Valentine's day. Unfortunately it's one of those dyed blue orchids. It just makes me sad to look at the poor thing. I'm not sure how each of you feel about them, but they're not really my style if you know what I mean.

So my question is, when it reblooms (and hoping it will) any advice on getting it back to white? Will the blue still be there at all or turn baby blue? I don't want to saturate it out too much and kill it. I grow my other orchids in s/h so debating switching it but I hear phals aren't so keen on it -So if anyone has had experience with these smurf orchids, I would love to hear how it went.

Thank you!!

[PaphMadMan]

Watering more won't help. The blue dye can't be washed out of the plant, but my understanding is that it doesn't move around much once it gets deposited in the tissue, so the Blue Mistake is always temporary. Maybe a few streaks if another spike is already started, but new growth will soon be dye free. Just give it a little time to recover its dignity, and try not to embarrass it by pointing out any hint of blue. It has been through enough.

[LovePhals]

I have read that they also pick the healthiest to dye blue. I am sure your smurf ... ... orchid will do just fine!

[Orchid Whisperer]

The next new flower spike will be white, or nearly white with maybe a little tint of blue (but most likely just white). I have a co-worker that received one of these as a gift a couple years ago. It now blooms well, and regularly - all white except for the typical yelllow and red markings around the lip. The dye does not seem to hurt the plant at all.

[vjo]

I think that the dye is injected directly into the spike so there should be no blue at all left to taint a new spike...Jean

[GeorgiaVL]

Originally Posted by wilsywils

So my boyfriend is very sweet and means well. He knows I love orchids so he took it upon himself to get me one for Valentine's day. Unfortunately it's one of those dyed blue orchids. It just makes me sad to look at the poor thing. I'm not sure how each of you feel about them, but they're not really my style if you know what I mean.

So my question is, when it reblooms (and hoping it will) any advice on getting it back to white? Will the blue still be there at all or turn baby blue? I don't want to saturate it out too much and kill it. I grow my other orchids in s/h so debating switching it but I hear phals aren't so keen on it -So if anyone has had experience with these smurf orchids, I would love to hear how it went.

Thank you!!

I have the same orchid. The dye was injected onto the stem turning the flower blue, but when it re-blooms the flower is white. You'd don't to do anything, just wait for it to re-bloom. I repotted the orchid, and it currently has white blooms.

[RosieC]

I agree with the others, I don't think you need to do anything special, I think it will just naturally revert to white. Someone at work had one and knowing I like orchids came to ask me why the new flowers were white not blue and I explained. The fact that these naturally revert to white is a disappointment for many people, but for you it's great news

---------- Post added at 11:59 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:58 AM ----------

By the way, welcome to Orchid Board

[Joseia]

I bought one of these also last year- it was the first orchid I purchased when I had no idea what I was doing. Turned out to be a very vigorous, healthy plant that re-bloomed for me this year. As others have noted, it will re-bloom white. Mine has gone nuts - first flower opened end of October and the flower stalk is still growing and putting out new blooms. It keeps 14 flowers up at a time, and just as the oldest is about to fade, another new one down the stalk opens up. Stalk is over 5 feet long. So yeah, the Blue Mystique is a total con job, but the plant itself seems very nice. The plastic inner pot mine came with had "Pure Silk" inked on the side, so it might not actually even be a noid. I've attached a picture of the phal in bloom - I think it looks MUCH prettier in white than that horrible blue lol.

[jlynn]

yea my hubby bought me a westerlay gem Phal without knowing that they injected dye into them. I just hope that I can get this to send up new spikes once I cut the old spikes once it losses the flowers. As my other Phal I cant get it to send up a new spike at all.