My Ludisia and it's mutent flowers

[RosieC]

I know, lots of people showing Ludisia discolor just now, but this is such a great plant and I want to show mine, including one of it's mutant blooms, thought it's not the only mutant.



This flower seems to be several merged together, and there are others on the spikes which are 2 or more merged together. One that looks completely normal still seems to have two sets of polinia.

This flower is the reason the left hand spike bends over part way up.

Has anyone else seen this sort of thing in Ludisia?

[ronaldhanko]

Beautiful photos. As I understand it these can be cause by mechanical injury, insect danage, environmental factors as the flower spikes are developing. We found a wild orchid this summer that had one double flower on a spike where all the other flowers were normal.

[WhiteRabbit]

Nice!

[Bud]

Lovely flowers. Your plant is happy and healthy. As Ron said its not a DNA mutation its merely accidental on its early formative development. You will see on the next blooming cycle, you will have perfect flowers.

[samarak]

I have seen one clone of Ludisia that produces irregular flowers every time it blooms, but I agree in this case it looks like mechanical damage.

Steve

[RosieC]

Thanks everyone. Interesting about it being mechanical damage. I didn't really they had got any, however they've been moved around a lot and could easily have got something small that I didn't notice.

[upnorthorchids]

Hi RosieC,

Very beautiful plant of Ludisia! My wife has recently been asking how I can make hers look better, so here I am asking for any tips. Searching the forums didn't help me much, so if anyone would like to private message me or start a new thread that I can find, I'd be appreciative! I'm a windowsill grower, and tempted to start trying S/H culture here and there -- would Ludisia be a decent cultivar to attempt transitioning to semi-hydro?

Thanks!
Adam

[RosieC]

I've not heard of Ludisia being grown S/H, I've always grown this one like a house plant in potting compost, but I mix in some bark and perlite to help keep it light.

I find it can get straggly, which is why a large shallow bowel like the bonsai bowel works for me. I tend to break off long straggly and already flowered 'limbs' in favour of growths from the center. If you leave the longer ones after they flower then they will tend to have new growths out the end causing to go even more straggly. If you encourage growths from the center by removing those it will stay more compact (though this is never a compact plant).

[Leafmite]

Interesting flowers! I've just gotten started with these and had my first bloom so this was pretty neat to see. Thanks for sharing!

[upnorthorchids]

Rosie, your information makes my day! I don't think this plant has ever been pruned, so I'm going to see if I can talk my wife into letting me have a go at it. And I was happy to hear that potting compost is an acceptable medium for a Ludisia as well, since that is what it has been in.

Thank you.