Miltonia, are "cuppy flowers" OK, normal?
 

Hi everyone, I have a Miltonia Hajime Ono in bloom but the flowers don't seem to want to open all the way. They are rather "cuppy" shaped. Very pretty and lovely fragrance. Have been bloomed for about a week now but not all the way open. Is this normal? Are they normally slow to open? Thank you for any help. :)

It's too hot here for those, so I don't grow them, but I do know a lot of orchid flowers will open cupped if humidity is too low.

Thanks for this information on the Miltonia flowers. Yes, I'm sure they are not getting enough humidity right now. I live north but still has been very hot and NO rain for a month, air conditioner running always. I can try and mist them but I am always hesitant to mist as I lost my last Miltonia and Miltoniaopsis to some funk turning the leaves brown and nasty and just falling off. Will see if I can figure out how to get some humidity without misting the plant. Humidity trays seem to be a waste of time, but might try it. Thank you for your input. :)

Miltonia once included warm-growing plants and the pansy-faced orchids, like yours.

The pansy-faced ones have been split off into genus Miltoniopsis. These are cool-growing plants.

Many people still call pansy-faced ones Miltonia, which adds to the confusion.

Both genera require a large amount of water when in active growth, and will not tolerate drying out. Plants in genus Miltonia, the warmer growing ones, do better if they dry out during the winter, when it is not growing. Miltoniopsis never like drying completely out through the year. It is not difficult to grow Miltonia mounted, but few people would be able to keep up with watering of a mounted Miltoniopsis.

I don't know what happened to your previous plants, but both genera lose leaves if not watered enough during the growing season, and Miltoniopsis loses leaves if not watered enough all year.

Yes, humidity trays do nothing to raise humidity, not even a few inches above them. They will keep water off your furniture.

everything I know is a lie..