Two years ago, I bought two seedlings, small ones, just some 2-3inch leaf span. I knew from before that this was not straight forward, since I had already lost one to rot, but decided to try again. The seedlings thrived and grew at a really good speed. and then the rot came. This time I was prepared so by proper cultural practices (rapid drying fans etc) I have been able to continue growing them. Then in April or May this year - now after almost two years in my posession, the following appeared on both of them:
Detail (May 30 2013)
Both plants
Yes, buds. What next? Reading this forum revealed that tigers are notorious bud-blasters, particularly whan young - as mine were- and that I should not expect sucessful flowering this time. So I decided to ignore all advices like keeping them crisp dry in the crown etc and just pour water over them as if nothing had happened. After all, these guys are from a monsoon area and the flowering is during the wet season so....well it sounded strange that they should blast because of humidity. Other factor might perfectly well blast them though, my suspicion goes to temperature fluctuations or more precisely: lack of. If it is not cold enough during night, the buds may blast. Keeping low temperatures at night is probably easier here in Norway than in most other places, but during summer, unless you move the plants outdoors it has its limitations. So, my plants have been subjected to a temperature regime of 17-18C at night and close to 30 at day. Humidity high, say 80%. The lower temperatures have increased though so now it may be 20 or so at the very low.
Ok, bud development was painfully slow but eventually it started to accelerate. But only one of them, the other blasted. One week ago it finally opened and here is the result. Picture from yesterday August 1 2013.
sideways:
Detail (May 30 2013)
Both plants
Yes, buds. What next? Reading this forum revealed that tigers are notorious bud-blasters, particularly whan young - as mine were- and that I should not expect sucessful flowering this time. So I decided to ignore all advices like keeping them crisp dry in the crown etc and just pour water over them as if nothing had happened. After all, these guys are from a monsoon area and the flowering is during the wet season so....well it sounded strange that they should blast because of humidity. Other factor might perfectly well blast them though, my suspicion goes to temperature fluctuations or more precisely: lack of. If it is not cold enough during night, the buds may blast. Keeping low temperatures at night is probably easier here in Norway than in most other places, but during summer, unless you move the plants outdoors it has its limitations. So, my plants have been subjected to a temperature regime of 17-18C at night and close to 30 at day. Humidity high, say 80%. The lower temperatures have increased though so now it may be 20 or so at the very low.
Ok, bud development was painfully slow but eventually it started to accelerate. But only one of them, the other blasted. One week ago it finally opened and here is the result. Picture from yesterday August 1 2013.
sideways:
