bud blasts on neofinetia

[LinhT]

Hi all,

I got a freebie Neofinetia falcata 'Tamagawa' from the owner of the place I buy my orchids at. He was kind enough to give me one that had a little spike on it. I got to see the buds come out and grow bigger and got all excited. Well, now 1 of the 3 buds has dried up and another looks like it may be on its way to blast. This is my first Neofinetia so I'm of course bummed out! I have it in an unhindered east window, on cloudy days its 6 - 8 inches under the 55W CFL. Humidity is 50 -75 %. Day temps 71 - 85 degrees F and night temps 62 - 68 degrees. It's in the moss mound in a clay pot and gets watered every 3 - 4 days. I put it outside one day under a dark screen but the humidity that day I think was low (under 40%). So is several hours of low humidity enough to blast the buds or am I growing this plant all wrong??

Thanks for any info!

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Growing conditions seem fine. Maybe it's from the stress of moving from one growing condition to another.

[Shirley]

That's also my opinion. Moving it from one environment to another can certainly cause this even though the plant will adjust in time. Bad luck, but it probably will be OK next time round.

[gmdiaz]

The change in conditions sure could cause your bloom troubles.

I keep all of mine in a grow rack with similar conditions but the humidity is consistent, relative to the day's fluctuating temperatures.

I've noticed that if the temp is high, like 79 degrees and the humidity gets too low even for an afternoon, they do get very upset. They really appreciate brisk circulating air and a good temperature drop at night!

Be sure you're watering it enough. I've got all of mine in seedling bark mix with a few larger bark chunks in there, lower toward the bottom and chopped sphagnum, charcoal on the very bottom for drainage. I water every couple of days and mist the exposed roots once a day.

Today, my humidifier ran out of water and it got hot, around 80 in the growing rack. . .and so, I too, am seeing some premature flower wilting. *I am so fuming at myself*.

[LinhT]

Thanks everyone for the useful info. Wow, Gwen, they really are touchy! I think mine misses it's original owner, Jason. Too bad so sad it's stuck with me now.

[PAorchidman]

Yeah, seems like the moving has got it all worked up. Also, did you remove the moss and look at the pot. I had a prob with a phal that i bought from a so called orchid guy. and no matter what i did, noting helped. finally, when it was on it's last leg and all the buds died, i repotted, and lo and behold. . . the idiot had it in a plastic cup buried in the bark inside an orchid pot. so the roots were quite rotten. Unfortunately, it was too late to save it, but that is always one of the frst things i chk now.. . . . . just my experience.

[LinhT]

Thanks, will keep in mind.