As Luck Would Have It

[Junebug]

My Rhycostylis gigantea 'Red' has grown so well this season. She's always been the picture of health and this summer she put out 2 keikis. To top it off, in late October, she popped out 3 spikes instead of the usual 2. I'm so proud of her efforts and I've been taking great precautions to make sure no harm would come to her beautiful spikes and buds. She's required extra protection this fall because I found a few weevils visiting her foliage and drooling over her buds. Weevils are nocturnal feeders and they're very hard to kill, so for protection I've been bringing the Rhynco indoors every night.

When Central Florida began having cold spells it was necessary to bring in all the chids indoors. Each time this happened I'd carefully position the Rynco for optimal indoor sun exposure and then return her and all the other chids to their usual growing positions as soon as the weather warmed.

Yesterday the temperatures were safe enough to return the plants outside and while I was at it I decided to give each one a dunk/drink in a large container of rainwater. The Rynco had a few aerial roots further up between the leaves and in an effort to wet those roots I pressed her a little deeper into the vessel. I was not thinking at the time about the backwards pressure effect of the water, and as luck would have it one of her 3 spikes got snapped off. Needless to say, this unfortunate mishap made my heart sink and brought tears to my eyes.

[CTB]

So sorry, to hear that I was looking forward to seeing those blooms, you'll have to be extra careful now, to keep the remaining two from coming to any harm. Yes, this moving of plants back and forth does take it toll on the orchids, and many buds blast. It's going to be cold again next week, starting Saturday I think.
My alba, flowers lasted about a week and a half. As soon as I started bringing it in you could see the flowers starting to turn.
It only has about half its flowers left.

[bellini girl]

I feel the pain, surely as if it were mine. Enjoy the remaining blooms

[Paul]

[Junebug]

Thanks everyone. It's just one of those tragic experiences that fellow orchid growers can relate to and I felt the need to vent.

I placed the broken spike in a small vase of water. A similar thing happened to me with a cattleya bud a few years ago and it bloomed a day after the incident happened. I'm treating this spike the same way. This time the buds aren't mature and I have no expectation for blooms at all. Placing the spike in water gave me some sense of relief though. The other two spikes should fully develop if I can manage to keep them on the plant.

[trdyl]

Well look on the bright side June. There are the other two still growing.

[Hedge]

It is horrible when this happens, isn't it, I snapped a Paaph Maudiae flower off when trying to stake it
Still as trdyl says, you have still got the other two spikes

[Junebug]

Thanks guys. I actually feel worse for the plant. I've had her for 10 years and when I got her I knew very little about caring for orchids. She's like a dear friend that's been with me through thick and thin. This was her best growing season ever and her year for making a special statement. During 2010 she almost doubled in height, grew 2 keikis, and then she wowed me with 3 spikes. She'll still have 2 spikes full of beautiful fragrant blooms but when the 3rd spike broke it felt like I took something precious away from her. It was a total accident and I really didn't mean for it to happen, but I still feel terrible.

[grasshopper]

I love how over the years these plants become more than plants to some of us. They take on their own personalities and pout when they're not comfortable and put on a show when they're happy. I've only been growing orchids for 2 years, so I haven't yet "bonded" with my plants to know them as individuals; but I've enjoyed reading the posts from those of you who have.

I'm so sorry about the broken spike, but I'm sure she'll shine when the other 2 spikes begin to bloom.

[Gin]

very sorry know how it is ..