Not 100% culture but interesting..

[SlipperKing]

I mentioned in someone else's thread to spray/mist a long petalled paph daily or even twice daily to get longer petals. Mist in nature is a natural cultural occurrence but this is more of a trick of sorts for me.

In the first picture is a two flowered hybrid (from Mr. Hanes in Seattle), I misted the first flower twice, sometimes three times a day as it developed and matured. The second flower I avoided. Its quite an ugly hybrid but demonstrates a point. Granted the second flower is not fully opened but it will never reach the length of the first.



This flower I misted as well and I swear when it bloomed 3 yrs back with two flowers they were only half this length!



Closeup showing the badly pinched dorsal

Call me crazy but I think something is going on here.

 

[CarlG]

Interesting. Certainly worth more investigation. I may have to try this myself on some plants I have (once they deign to flower again).

 

[orchid527]

Good info. I've been told that higher humidity helps with the petal length, but there isn't much I can do about that. However, I can mist once or twice a day and I have some flowers to try it on right now. Mike

 

[troy]

Interesting info, thanks!! what is this cross?

 

[SlipperKing]

The first flower is Angel Hair X Paul Parks

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[blondie]

Intresting to see and hear its a nice hybrid I like.

Might have to see if this works for me when one of my long petal ones start

 

[NYEric]

I took your advice and I'm misting the petals of a phillipinense I have in bloom.

 

[Ozpaph]

interesting observation. Wouldn't the first flower be bigger anyway?

 

[troy]

Eric, what else do you have in bloom at this time?

 

[SlipperKing]

Eric I start misting when the buds are cracking open and continue.
That could be true Stephen but my two flowered sandie's petals are the same length, a flowering preastans with 4 flowers have 3.76 in petals. The Crouching tiger I just posted, the first 3 flowers are at the 7.5 in range, the 4th at 7 and the 5th at 6.5.

I just measured the AH x PP. The 1st is 17.5 and the 2nd is at 11 in even. Here is a pic. It looks to be mature or darn close.

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[SlipperKing]

My theory, it's all about gravity. As the flower cells mature they go through elongation and I think the extra weight of the the water helps the stretching process.

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[My Green Pets]

I'm thinking I'd want to try this with distilled/RO water to avoid mineral deposits drying on the petals (?)

 

[Dandrobium]

My thoughts are that the misting helps with petal hydration, allowing the plant to continue growing the petals rather than having to continually hydrate the existing petal size.

Great observation and experiment! I'll be sure to try this with the next long petalled paph/phrag that comes out!

 

[StreetVariety]

My theory, it's all about gravity. As the flower cells mature they go through elongation and I think the extra weight of the the water helps the stretching process.

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You can verify or deny this theory by weighing the petal. If it's just stretching, then the number of cells should be the same yes?

Dry out the petals first too.

A magnifying glass could work too.

 

[Tanner. C]

Can I mist with just a spray bottle? Or would the mist need to be more fine?

 

[Ray]

Just a guess, but wouldn't max-ing out the RH be more effective?

 

[consettbay2003]

as an experiment why not mist one petal and not the other

 

[SlipperKing]

Can I mist with just a spray bottle? Or would the mist need to be more fine?

The spray bottle will be fine. My goal was to saturate the petals with as much water as possible hence as much weight as possible. Theoretically I could put clothes pins on the tip of the petals and get the same affect but I wouldn't have very pretty petals when I was done, right?
It's my impression in the environment where these plants grow, especially in the winter months, mist and heavy fog almost every night and/or days. Everything has got to be heavy with water. So why not my greenhouse then?

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[SlipperKing]

as an experiment why not mist one petal and not the other

This plant could be a fluke and the water weight doesn't do anything. The next time I have a long petalled multi with at least 3 flowers on it I'm going to mist the first and third flowers only. If they have long petals and the second is much shorter, then I would think I have something.

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