Now I am a bit confused … one of the buds on my Angraecum florulentum has begun to fade. The other 4 buds are thankfully developing nicely and are looking fine – so far. I really have no idea why this one bud (top left) has decided to blast on me. 😐
I have never had this happen on buds I have cultivated myself – just in new purchases where the dramatic change in growing conditions or temperature caused too much stress in the plant… This one has a strong root system and has been in the same climate since the buds began to show, in the warm vivarium at 26-28 C during the day and 15-17 at night. It is rather humid in there too, 85 RH during the day and up to 100% at night, so low humidity is not the issue either. Why is this happening now?
Hey there!
Not to be screaming “wolves” or anything, but have you checked for larvae/insects? I know there are some insects (getingsläktet) that plant their eggs inside buds, and that the larvae cocoons itself inside the bud until it is ready to emerge.
Will the plant or the rest of the flowers suffer if you “decapitate” the closed/shriveled bud?
Best of luck!
ps – any chance of a closeup photo?
Marius
Hi Marius. Thanks for trying to help figure this one out for me. I had looked all over the plant for any kind of insects but did not see anything. So last night i decided to do a bud autopsy to see if anything was hiding inside – but nothing. I’ll post a picture from the “procedure” so you can see the bud up close… right now the working theory is that the spur might have gotten damaged somehow. I did not know they could be so sensitive, but apparently they can. Thanks again!
[…] to figure out the reason why this one bud would fail, I decided to perform a bud-autopsy on the mysteriously blasted Angraecum bud… No vermin found. Not even when scrutinized under a magnifying glass. No, my dear Watson, […]