Broken flower spike...Successfully saved!!! :)

[NYCorchidman]

So, this is my NOID intergeneric. could be Tahoma Glacier Sugar Sweet or Pacific Pastel, or neither!
Anyway, it has two flower spikes on one big pb. Each of them carry nine flowers.
Just the other day, one of the spike bent over at the point of 5th flower from the bottom due to its weight as more flowers opened up. I was so disappointed because I thought I lost about half the bloom on that spike.
I put a taller stake next to that spike and tied the broken spike onto that stake hoping that the flowers would be saved.
One day later now, all the final four flowers open and they look fresh, so I guess the quick fix worked.

By the way, I noticed one of the flowers had some odd structure. I don't know what that small round white part in the center of the flower called, but each flower usually has one of them. One flower had two of them!

[WhiteRabbit]

[Zoi2]

Good save, very nice blooms. Is it the anther cap that you flower has two of?
Joann

[camille1585]

Nice save, sometimes these large flowered hybrids just don't have the strength to stay upright on their own.

[NYCorchidman]

Thank you, Joann. The anther cap is the name! my ignorance...hehe

I had no idea how heavy these flowers could be. I never really stake any flower spikes on my orchids, but then I realized this particular NOID intergeneric plant has rather skinny spike for flower size and counts. so now I know I have to stake this plant.

I was lucky I happened to be talking on the phone standing right in front of it when it bent down. I could have been outside doing something, then it would have been probablytoo late to save it.

[camille1585]

The strength of the stems also depends on the growing conditions. If the plant is kept warm and not so bright then any growth tends to be weaker.

[NYCorchidman]

Thanks for the info. warm and not so bright...that's what I have here. hehe
Hopefully, the plan is moving to a new apartment with south window early next year, so I'm really excited about it. then again, I'm worried about all the paphs since they do perfectly fine here and my new apartment might be a bit too bright for them.
Maybe I should buy another LED lamp and put all the Lady's Slippers under the lamp. lol
Well, I will come up with something.

[camille1585]

I think it's easier to deal with too much light than not enough. If you have a good sheer curtain over part of the window then paphs should do fine. Or hide them behind a row of tall sun lovers.

Low light (I have a north east window) means investing in lights and such, which is much more expensive than a curtain!! Me too I'm hoping to a new apartment early next year, with I hope a south or west window.

[NYCorchidman]

I too have north east window here. I think my east window is ideal for most of orchids I have, but there's a very tall BMW building blocking lots of sun coming my way. Grrrrrr!!!!!! lol

[WhiteRabbit]

Many times, unstaked spikes will bow (sometimes quite a bit) with the weight from the blooms, tho generally, they don't break