Sheath removal causing bud blast? Stress hormones in Orchids

[silken]

That's why some of us have too many plants. So we have blooms all the time While we wait for others to do their thing from one bloom time to the next.

[Bre_tallen]

The newest photo shows how things have changed in the last 12 hours. There is some new browning on the apical meristem and node leaflets. I'm rather certain this time that the plant will blast buds.

The reason I think it's bud blast is because the yellow color is spreading to the ovary/stem part of the flower. Changed have all occurred in the last 48-72 hours.

I attempted to remove the sheath because I noticed the sheath was removed on an open bloom when I procured the plant. I took it off thinking it was an innocuous & Simple decision. What a vain and stupid mistake. But to be honest I have never come across a warning about this before.

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0hGrq0zwJIv4TK
What is the yellowing at a cellular level? Are we watching chlorophyll being retracted back into the plant ? Or degrading ?

[silken]

I'm sorry, but it is likely that they are blasting. It could have been that the previous spike never produced a sheath. This is quite common and many of my orchids do some of both, even at the same time. I can have one growth with a sheath and buds and another with a naked spike of about the same size. I have one right now. But it was a valuable lesson so all is not lost. We all learn from the school of hard knocks. Just console yourself with getting a new orchid in spike or bloom. And next time it will bloom for you I'm sure.

[Helene]

I google cattleya bud, white- and eventually found some pics of buds. And that was a white one, and those buds had the same yellow color as your plant. But not that far down. So the color was fine, I assume. But it is damaged, and that might make it blast the buds anyway. If you are superlucky it will still bloom, but I think they might start to wither and blast instead.

But it will give you nice flowers for many years to come, so if it does blast, you can buy yourself another one. For comfort, lol, always an excuse to buy more plants😎

We have all had accidents, either poking too much, or knock it down, or other things. Shit happens. Its annoying but then when it blooms the next time its all forgotten☺️

Good luck with your plant, and do keep us updated👍🏻