Sepals open, Petals don't?

[cegha04]

Ok, very new to orchids & I wanted to start with the easiest to work with, Phals. I have one I got from Home Depot on sale for $8 in bloom. It was marked as a Phal Hybrid. I believe i've tracked it down to be a Baldan's Kaleidoscope 'Golden Treasure'.

Anyways, it had about 2-3 fully bloomed when I bought it & over the past 2 weeks that i've had it, its begun to have other blossoms bloom. I didn't sit & watch per se, but I check them every AM & saw a bloom beginning to open, & checked it later in day & it was mostly open & by night it was fully opened. I have had a bloom that was already open before the one mentioned & it has sat with the sepals open, but the petals are closed around the lip & don't fully open.

After the blossom that fully opened, I have had 2 others open the sepals but the petals still stay around the lip. It is very odd & makes me think I am doing something wrong. I give the plants misting with distilled water 2-3 times per day on the leaves & flowers. They are kept in a room around 60F with a ceiling fan on low in about a 8-9ft tall room, so it has good air circulation. 2 windows in the room, a west & north window with good indirect light on the plants. Has been gloomy & cloudy over the past week or 2 quite a few days.

I can't post pics yet, but I can upload them under my photo album for you to see.
http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ms-petals.html

I've tried to google this which no much luck.

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[wintergirl]

Well Phals really don't need all that misting that you are doing. It's best not to get the leaves or the flowers wet and dry them if you do. I only water the roots in the pot when they are silvery, which can be once only 7-10 days. Let the water drain out. Phals like to dry between watering. Not sure the flowers would like all that misting, just a guess.

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[WhiteRabbit]

Looks like it could be a form of peloria - can be genetic, or caused by other factors while buds are developing. Since your other blooms are as expected, it's likely just one of those things that happens sometimes.

I generally recommend staying away from misting - and the flowers themselves will stay nice looking longer if kept dry.


*** I edited your post to add the link to the album, to make it easier for members to see your photos ***

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[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

If it is a Phal Baldan's Kaleidoscope, this hybrid has a tendency to express peloricism of some sort or another.

Peloricism is when the petals develop into labella (aka lips).

If it is peloricism, this is normal behavior in some cases, not all. There is some variability in how it can be expressed even within one plant.

I agree, I don't recommend misting the Phal so often, it has the possibility of inviting problems with crown rot later.

I recommend reading the following if you're new to Phals:

http://www.orchidboard.com/community...ends-here.html

You may also try growing Cattleyas, Encyclias, or Laelias if you have an area that has bright indirect light. These are pretty easy to grow imo.

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[wintergirl]

Anyway, welcome to Orchidboard! Sounds like you have a great room for your plants

[cegha04]

Thanks for these excellent replies. Sounds like this is a possible natural genetic disorder that is prone to happening in this hybrid.

Well at the moment i'm still trying to find a hygrometer that is good enough to give good readings in the room, so I don't know the humidity. I was under the impression spraying the plants with some water would increase humidity for them. I''ve heard mixed things on water trays. I've heard they work & heard they do absolutely nothing. Personally I don't think those do anything, but thinking that water sitting on the leaves would do more.

The bottle i've been using is a Home Depot spray bottle I have set to mist setting, still they're largish drops of water that accumulate. The ceiling fan even on low after spraying my plants will be completely dry in less than 5 minutes. I've thought about crown rot, but how long does water have to sit on the crown for that to be caused? I was under the impression for many hours or days.

Are Phals not as sensitive to humidity needs as i'm thinking them to be? I see recommended 50-60%. I doubt even without a hygrometer that my house & the room they're in is at 50-60%.

Mabye I should consider buying a humidifier for this room? Is it worth the money for a humidifier, as in will my plants benefit noticeably from well controlled humidity?

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

50% - 60% humidity is towards the low end of their tolerance range. Some of them come from areas where the humidity can easily get to be 100%. Such places would be a tropical swamp forest in Indonesia or Malaysia, for example.

[LovePhals]

My humidity gets down to 30% in winter with the heater running. I try to keep it at 35% or higher but my phals are fine. I have always had complex hybrids and this will be my first year with primary hybrids. Even my vandas tolerate it when they have to. Although I try to run humidifiers near them. They will be OK if they are a strong plant.

[snowflake311]

weird I just got a Phal as a gift and it too has this peloric flower going on. had no idea it was common.

[abeauty]

There are collectors of Peloria orchids. I bought the same orchid at Home Depot in S. Florida and was considering bringing it back. Your post led me to do some research. I'm keeping mine.