I just received a beautiful miltonia plant for my birthday, and it came
to me with several flowers in bloom and several more buds (6-7, on 2 or
3 separate spikes). I moved it into my living room, onto a mantle which
recieves direct sunlight. All of the buds began to wilt after several
days. I thought maybe the mantle didn;t get enough light, so I moved it
into my window sill, since it has been cloudy for the past few days.
The flower shop told me it has been watered once a week.

Any suggestions on how to save this guy?

Thanks

Sarahsbs,

Are you sure it is a Miltonia and not a Miltoniopsis? Did it come with an
identifying tag by any chance? A lot of people (including some vendors) use
the two interchangeably, but they are different: Miltonias are warm-growing,
whereas Miltoniopsis prefer intermediate temperatures. When my mother-in-law
bought her Miltoniopsis, the vendor told her that when they are in flower or
in bud, they need much more water, and thus he advised watering twice a week
during that time -- the Miltoniopsis has flourished for her, and has
reflowered a second time in the meantime, so I suspect that this advice was
good. I am not an expert on Miltonias nor Miltoniopsis though, so I hope
someone else will give you more advice.

One important thing to keep in mind: loosing buds does not mean that the
plant is dieing. The orchid plant may well be quite healthy and still loose
buds (called bud blast) due to difference in conditions between where it was
grown previously (probably a greenhouse) and your home, or any number of
other reasons that may cause bud blast. Just because it looses buds now does
not necessarily mean that you are doing something wrong, it may be a
reaction to something that happened to it before you got it. Just because
the orchid looses buds now does not mean that it will not flourish for you
in the future. It could loose some of the buds only and then open other
flowers, or it could loose all its buds this time but reflower for you some
other time. So do not give up on this plant just because of some bud blast!

Best,
Joanna

wrote in message
ups.com...
I just received a beautiful miltonia plant for my birthday, and it came
to me with several flowers in bloom and several more buds (6-7, on 2 or
3 separate spikes). I moved it into my living room, onto a mantle which
recieves direct sunlight. All of the buds began to wilt after several
days. I thought maybe the mantle didn;t get enough light, so I moved it
into my window sill, since it has been cloudy for the past few days.
The flower shop told me it has been watered once a week.

Any suggestions on how to save this guy?

Thanks

Miltonias IMHO are a little bit more delicate than many other commonly sold
house orchids. They require more ambient humidity and a slightly cooler
temperature than something like a phalaenopsis or dendrobium.

IMHO where you erred ( if you can call it that) was thinking an orchid
required direct sunlight. They don't. They like indirect light, sort of
like what an African Violet likes. Placing it in direct sunlight (light =
heat) probably got it too warm, and the flowers wilted (more about that in a
second) And warmer conditions make the plant breathe out more water
(transpire), losing water too.

A friend of mine had a drop dead gorgeous Miltonia he brought into our
society. Just the 20 minute drive from his house, through the dry heat to
the meeting caused all the flowers to start to wilt. Boy was he bummed.

Now, when I say they like cooler temps, I don't mean refrigertor temps, *G*.
Just not hot temps. If you sit out in the sun you get hot. So does your
Miltonia. Your Miltonia would like whatever temperature you'd like if you
were sitting in the shade... like, what, 80F? At the top? So think of how
hot or cold you like to feel and give that to the plant. Keep it out of
drafts, too. They'll dry the plant out (transpiration). (Unless they're
moist tropical breezes coming off a violet blue ocean, gently wafting the
coconut palms as a guitar plays softly in the background, a tall Mojito
sweating at your side.) But I digress.

Now lets talk about just the fact the plant was transported a couple of
times. Like what happened to my friend, just the act of transporting the
flowers can get them to wilt. The flowers just don't like the differences
in conditions from the Greenhouse to the store to your house. Sometimes they
acclimate and come back overnight. Sometimes they don't. Sometimes you
have to wait for more inflorescences to grow and bloom, sometimes you have
to wait until next year. Welcome to the wonderful world of orchids!

Just find a spot in your house where it gets indirect light or early morning
sun and is protected from drafts from the heater registers. Water it once a
week or when a bamboo skewer (like for BBQ) comes out dry when inserted
about an inch into the potting medium. (Learning when and how much to water
is an art. You'll have to learn to judge this for yourself.)

As for ambient humidity you are kinda stuck with whatever humidity is in
your house. If you have a bright bathroom or can grow this over the kitchen
sink where steam from drying dishes can provide some humidity, then all the
better. But if you can't don't stress about it. 'Adapt or die' is another
orchid motto. Sometimes they'll adapt to your conditions.

In the meantime, go out and get another orchid.

For 'practice'.

Yeah, that's the ticket!

K Barrett
wrote in message
ups.com...
I just received a beautiful miltonia plant for my birthday, and it came
to me with several flowers in bloom and several more buds (6-7, on 2 or
3 separate spikes). I moved it into my living room, onto a mantle which
recieves direct sunlight. All of the buds began to wilt after several
days. I thought maybe the mantle didn;t get enough light, so I moved it
into my window sill, since it has been cloudy for the past few days.
The flower shop told me it has been watered once a week.

Any suggestions on how to save this guy?

Thanks

thanks for all the help! when i said 'direct light' on my first post, i
actually mis-typed... my mjantle gets indirect sun. Or what i *think*
counts as indirect sun. Any suggestions on what indirect light entails?
Also, any opinions on watering from the bottom vs watering from the
top?

thanks

Indirect means just that - no direct sunrays hit the plant. "Filtered"
light - through a sheer or something - may also be acceptable. It's heat
buildup from the light that can damage the plants, so we're trying to limit
it.

My suggestion is to ALWAYS water the pot from the top - the medium, not into
the tops of the plants themselves - and never let the plant stand in liquid.

--

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


wrote in message
ups.com...
thanks for all the help! when i said 'direct light' on my first post, i
actually mis-typed... my mjantle gets indirect sun. Or what i *think*
counts as indirect sun. Any suggestions on what indirect light entails?
Also, any opinions on watering from the bottom vs watering from the
top?

thanks