Possible burn on Cattleya buds from Florescents T5
 

My Catt hybrid is blooming, and I believe the grow lights may have burned the buds slightly. I moved up my fixture after I noticed the purple/red speckles. They are similar to the ones that have showed up on my leaves. Do you think the buds will be okay? They are continuing to grow. I'm running 4 2ft, High Output 6400K T5 florescents. How far should I keep buds from the lights in the future to avoid this problem?

nothing wrong with those buds! they are beautiful! the specks on the buds are from the colors in the plant, the bloom will have some red or lavender coloration on the lip or petals, probably spotted....I have found that 6 inches from the bloom hasn't affected my cat blooms....enjoy!

Thanks for responding. The blooms are typically all white with a purple lip. I've never noticed this coloring in previous years, so I'm not completely convinced. Luckily this plant is giving me 4 spikes this year! I'll post pictures when the buds open, ones of the blooms I think may have been affected, and ones of the blooms that will open later! (I'll be sure to keep those relatively shaded.)

When I first looked at your pix on my phone, I had the same thought as dounoharm ... but, after getting a better look on my computer, and the fact that you say blooms aren't spotted, it would seem something else is going on. I don't know if that's burn from your lights, or not, sorry. Hopefully some others can chime in!

I grow my orchids under T5HO and if does put out alot of heat so I have a fan blowing across the tube to cool it down. I suggest you keep it 10 inches above the top of the leaves if you have very little air movement.

I used to grow them under t5's, and they did fine. Your bud look ok. The only problem I had was distorted flowers due to my low humidity.


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my miltoniopsis blooms "burnt" - curled at the edges. I will move them away from my T5s in future as they start to bloom...

I was told that Catt leaves should be light green (like granny smith apple green) with some red/purple spotting on the leaves/ bulbs/ stems. Red spots tell you that they are getting perfect light situation. Not too much red though.