Cattleya Betty Ford and her malformed lip
 

Here's Cattleya Betty Ford, and her scent and combination of colors are glorious. However... I took a couple of close-up pictures of the lips, and on three of the four blooms they are malformed. Does anyone have any ideas about what could have caused this?

It actually looks like an insect or a slug has snacked on them. But I'm pretty sure that there are no slugs in the pot (and no telltale evidence of a silvery slime trail), as it has been completely repotted this year and I'm pretty hyper-vigilant about mollusk hunting on all of the orchids. The buds weren't mechanically damaged during their development (no bumps, bruises, tears, etc.) either. Could this possibly be viral, and the "damage" that I'm seeing isn't really that at all?

It's a little frustrating to see this, and I don't want to get rid of the plant. The scent of the blooms alone is making me want to do everything possible to "fix" Betty's lip so that she can be here for many more years.

Well, photos would probably be helpful.

pretty purple flowers :)

I find moths/white flies leave little worms or maggots if you want to call them. They do eat the buds from inside. You may never see them or the moth that laid the eggs. See only the damage done when flower blooms.

:biggrin:

Thank you, RJ! I never thought that I'd be pleased to have white fly larvae to blame. But that's better than a virus infection. I appreciate your feedback.

I doubt it's any type of pathogen.

Wow Betty Ford! Is it huge?

I dont really see the malformation you talking about. Is the bottom of the lip just not very frilly and full? I will say I sometimes get malformed flowers because my growing environment is quite hot. Flower buds with heat on one side end up a little asymetrical.

Definitly stick with it!

Cannot say much about malformation. But what a gorgeous bloom!

Yes, the flowers are large, at just over seven inches wide, measured from the tip of one petal to the other.

I'm including two more pics that show details of two different lips. You can see where one side of the lip has a lot of ruffles, where the other side looks like the ruffles have been cut or gnawed off. Maybe I'm just being overly picky, but to me these are flaws that I've never seen in the blooms of a cattleya species.

Thanks, Ray. That's actually good to hear (er, read).

That second photo shows remnants of physical damage.