On 24/08/2014 13:05, Jeff Layman wrote:
On 23/08/2014 19:24, Spider wrote:
On 23/08/2014 16:29, Pam Moore wrote:
On Sat, 23 Aug 2014 12:31:26 +0100, "Bob Hobden"
wrote:

"Sacha" wrote


I have 5 plants. One did just this, made new stems of buds after the
previous lot died off. However, the buds have failed to open, having
veen there a few months. Then the buds started dropping.
Could this have been the very hot weather? They are in the same place
where I always keep them. One has had a wonderful spray of flowers,
also for a few months.
Sometimes the old stems go woody and then I cut them down to the base.



Buds can abort if the plant is turned to face a different direction.
They are unable to turn with the stem, so drop off. This is why orchids
are invariably bought with flowers open. Drought and dryness can also
have the same effect.

Are you sure about the change in light direction causing bud drop,
Spider? A quick bit of googling revealed quite a few hits mentioning
temperature and humidity as causes, but none mentioning light. I have 5
phals on a north-facing bathroom window, where they flower well, but as
they grow and flower into each other I often turn them 180° to avoid
this. I've never had a bud drop off.




Yes, I've read it in at least one of my many orchid books. I don't
think it's the same as bud blast. In the early days of my keeping
orchids, perfectly healthy buds would abort mysteriously relatively soon
after I'd got them home. Then I read about their dislike of movement,
obliging them to twist on the stem. Since then, I've taken particular
care when manoeuvering them and had no casualites, which would seem to
bear it out.

I'm wondering now, because of what you say, if this habit refers
especially to the smaller buds which appear to have no pedicel (which
would allow them to move), and that bigger buds with developed pedicel
are freer to move. Interesting.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay