I have a Paph Amelia Hart Alexander that has been in bloom since October,
and was working on a seventh bud right now. When I picked it up today to
take a better look at it, the bud just dropped off.

Looking inside I found that the pouch was much smaller than would be
expected at this stage of bud development, and the pouch was dark (almost
dark red or brown). The bud had grown almost to the size where I had
expected it to open any moment. It's dorsal sepal and petals looked normal.

The leaves of the plant look healthy.

The spike looks like it might still have ideas for another bud after this,
still too small to tell.

My questions a
1) Are reasons for paph bud blast similar to reasons for phal bud blast?
2) I had to move this plant about two weeks ago to my main growing area in
order to vacate its prior spot in a smaller growing area that I needed in
order to keep new plants that I acquired at the New York show isolated from
my collection. Could this be the cause of the bud blast?
3) Aside from looking under the leaves for possible pests, is there anything
else I should look for?
4) Should I cut off the flower spike? Would this be the Paph's way of
telling me that it's flowering season is done, or that it is stressed and
thus even if there is a possibility of another bud, it's better not to allow
it? Since I have had 7-8 months of blooming from this sequential Paph
already, I won't mind cutting off the spike. On the other hand the plant
does look healthy, and it does have a new growth already, and I wouldn't
want to cut the spike without a good reason -- is there a good reason?
5) I have seen pictures of Paph bud blast, and this bud did not really look
like the pictures I had seen, aside from the small size of the pouch, the
dark color of this pouch. Until this evening when the bud fell off I had no
idea that it was not developing normally. Is this unusual?

Thanks,
Joanna

Hi, Joanna.

I find paphs to be mush tougher to blast than phals, but of course
environmental changes **could** affect the buds similarly.

Without knowing what the differences in the two growing areas are, it's hard
to say if that was the problem though. My guess is that the plant was
simply getting "tired." Maybe the cultural differences helped that along.

I find it best to NOT cut the inflorescences of sequential-flowering paphs,
as they can sometimes come back to life after an extended period - as long
as many months.

--

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


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:R3Bee.1010$sZ2.463@trnddc04...
I have a Paph Amelia Hart Alexander that has been in bloom since October,
and was working on a seventh bud right now. When I picked it up today to
take a better look at it, the bud just dropped off.

Looking inside I found that the pouch was much smaller than would be
expected at this stage of bud development, and the pouch was dark (almost
dark red or brown). The bud had grown almost to the size where I had
expected it to open any moment. It's dorsal sepal and petals looked
normal.

The leaves of the plant look healthy.

The spike looks like it might still have ideas for another bud after this,
still too small to tell.

My questions a
1) Are reasons for paph bud blast similar to reasons for phal bud blast?
2) I had to move this plant about two weeks ago to my main growing area in
order to vacate its prior spot in a smaller growing area that I needed in
order to keep new plants that I acquired at the New York show isolated
from
my collection. Could this be the cause of the bud blast?
3) Aside from looking under the leaves for possible pests, is there
anything
else I should look for?
4) Should I cut off the flower spike? Would this be the Paph's way of
telling me that it's flowering season is done, or that it is stressed and
thus even if there is a possibility of another bud, it's better not to
allow
it? Since I have had 7-8 months of blooming from this sequential Paph
already, I won't mind cutting off the spike. On the other hand the plant
does look healthy, and it does have a new growth already, and I wouldn't
want to cut the spike without a good reason -- is there a good reason?
5) I have seen pictures of Paph bud blast, and this bud did not really
look
like the pictures I had seen, aside from the small size of the pouch, the
dark color of this pouch. Until this evening when the bud fell off I had
no
idea that it was not developing normally. Is this unusual?

Thanks,
Joanna

Thank you Ray.

I have moved other orchids between my growing areas in the past, without
noticeable effects, so I am thinking that the difference between the two
growing areas is not really the main issue.

But just in case the differences are it after all, here are some details:

My small growing area where I keep newcomers, and where this paph used to
be, is in the living room, in front of a shaded balcony, which is north
facing, so not much light from the outside, but it is flanked by two grow
lamps that are enough distance from the plants to provide Phal and Paph
light levels but probably not more. The humidity is lower in this area than
in the main one. Since it's fairly close to the thermostat the day night
temperature difference is less likely to happen in this area -- so I tend to
not expect orchids to spike while they are here.

My main growing area is in our den. It has more grow lamps, a humidifier,
and the window is less shaded (though still north facing, like all my
windows). The plant in question was not up close to the window but lit by a
grow lamp, about the same distance from the grow lamp as in the old area, I
think, though I only eye balled it, so could be a change in distance. This
growing area is further from the thermostat and thus is more likely to get
cooler at night (more spiking activity here as a result).

As already mentioned, I don't think these differences are enough to really
stress a plant that is moved from one area to the other, at least I have not
observed that to be the case. So it is probably just that it got tired.

I will follow your advice, and will not cut this spike.

Thanks,
Joanna

"Ray" wrote in message
...
Hi, Joanna.

I find paphs to be mush tougher to blast than phals, but of course
environmental changes **could** affect the buds similarly.

Without knowing what the differences in the two growing areas are, it's
hard
to say if that was the problem though. My guess is that the plant was
simply getting "tired." Maybe the cultural differences helped that along.

I find it best to NOT cut the inflorescences of sequential-flowering
paphs,
as they can sometimes come back to life after an extended period - as long
as many months.

--

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


"J Fortuna" wrote in message
news:R3Bee.1010$sZ2.463@trnddc04...
I have a Paph Amelia Hart Alexander that has been in bloom since October,
and was working on a seventh bud right now. When I picked it up today to
take a better look at it, the bud just dropped off.

Looking inside I found that the pouch was much smaller than would be
expected at this stage of bud development, and the pouch was dark
(almost
dark red or brown). The bud had grown almost to the size where I had
expected it to open any moment. It's dorsal sepal and petals looked
normal.

The leaves of the plant look healthy.

The spike looks like it might still have ideas for another bud after
this,
still too small to tell.

My questions a
1) Are reasons for paph bud blast similar to reasons for phal bud blast?
2) I had to move this plant about two weeks ago to my main growing area
in
order to vacate its prior spot in a smaller growing area that I needed
in
order to keep new plants that I acquired at the New York show isolated
from
my collection. Could this be the cause of the bud blast?
3) Aside from looking under the leaves for possible pests, is there
anything
else I should look for?
4) Should I cut off the flower spike? Would this be the Paph's way of
telling me that it's flowering season is done, or that it is stressed
and
thus even if there is a possibility of another bud, it's better not to
allow
it? Since I have had 7-8 months of blooming from this sequential Paph
already, I won't mind cutting off the spike. On the other hand the plant
does look healthy, and it does have a new growth already, and I wouldn't
want to cut the spike without a good reason -- is there a good reason?
5) I have seen pictures of Paph bud blast, and this bud did not really
look
like the pictures I had seen, aside from the small size of the pouch,
the
dark color of this pouch. Until this evening when the bud fell off I had
no
idea that it was not developing normally. Is this unusual?

Thanks,
Joanna