A plant will "bloom itself to death" if the overall cultural conditions and
feeding regimen do not allow the plant to keep up - in other words, if it
happens, it's your fault, not the plant's.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies. Books, Artwork, and lots of Free Info!


"Tippi" wrote in message
...
On Mar 24, 12:19 am, tenman wrote:

It is not a myth that they can bloom themselves to death. One of mine
did. It was a smallish plant, just a couple mature growths, and bloomed
for almost 18 months on and off from one spike, then collapsed and died.

So how to prevent this? right now mine is on its 5th flower with 2 new
growths coming along nicely, do I have to worry about it blooming to
death?

Back story of this plant - last year at a show a vendor has several
pots of P. Green Valley in bud, for $50 each. "What a bargain!"
thought I. On arriving home and removing the cellophane around the
pot, the medium looked suspicious so I peeled back the sphagnum, only
to find it has no live roots. Looks like it was barerooted for a while
then wrapped in moss and stuffed in a pot. Crossing my fingers I
repotted it and let it flower. It gave 2 blooms, then the next 2 buds
dried up. Expecting that the spike was done, I kept watering it and
relieved when I saw new roots and growths. Wasn't even paying
attention when one day I came home to find a flower had opened! But
perhaps it's still not in top health since the flowers last only a
month - I thought they last longer?