Paph. primulinum - What happened?

[mde]

This Paph. primulinum is in its first bloom. Shown in the photos are blooms #7 (the healthy, normal appearing bloom) and #8 (the mutated, alien looking thing). Any idea what happened? Did I underwater it during it's development? Did I overfertilize it? Is it from salts in the water? Too much light? Etc. etc... All the previous blooms were beautiful. The plant is healthy otherwise, and the foliage shows no signs of stress.

And, as I previewed this post and the photographs, perhaps it was due to the spider living on it? (see the webs on the first photo, on the healthy flower?) I love spiders, by the way, and let them live peacefully all over my house...they are as effective as a sundew at controlling the dogpecker gnats!

Thanks for any thoughts on this one?

Matt E. ME

[Diane]

I'm no scientiest, nor expert on Paphs, but I have had deformed flowers on other orchids before. Usually just one on a spike, but sometimes more than one. Phals, Onc, and Epi's. I always chalked it up to mother nature and her sense of playfullness. Or, more realistically, just a little DNA mixup at the time the bud was forming. Haven't had the problem on a paph or phrag yet, but I'll be keeping an interested eye on the answers you get.

[uncasteeb]

I,ve had a few weird flowers on first blooming Phrag , they came out right in the end.See how the next 1 forms.It may be cultral but time will tell.

[Gin]

I would not worry , I have had the same on Phals. usually it is at the end of the booming season . If all were mutated I would worry . I have read it is common for this to happen on first bloom seedlings . Also to much Superthrive can cause it , Don't know if this is fact or not ? I think Diane nailed it , a glitch during bud stage . The one flower is very pretty . Gin

[mde]

I think I recall reading awhile back that some of you actually cut the first bloom spike on Paph's to reserve energy for a strong next growth. I've been looking at this primulinum closely, and the new bud does not seem to be forming such that it could keep blooming after this mutation....

There is a small new bud, but it is coming off the end of the stem of the mutant flower, and not off the main inflorescence like the others have. It appears that when the stem of this flower falls off, the new bud will have no other choice but to go with it.

In the photo, I have the new bud labeled as "A", and the space where I believe the new bud should have been forming off of the main inflorescence as "B". For those who aren't familiar with Paph.s habits, I've labeled the stem of the healthy flower as "C", which after the bloom dies off, these stems fall off with it. And finally, also for those not familiar, "D" is representative of where an old flower stem fell off the inflorescence. If you look at the previous growth habit, the new bud is not where it should be, right?
As mentioned in the original post, this spike is on its seventh (the healthy one) and eighth (the deformed one) flowers.

So, here are the questions....

Do you agree from what you can see in the picture, that the bud is forming at the end of a stem and not off the inflorescence where it should be. I was going to just cut off the ugly and browning mutant flower until I saw where the new bud was, and realized there was no way to take the flower without taking the new bud. And if so, then I would assume that's it for this inflorescence, no?

And finally, if it would help the new growth develop, I think I'll just cut the whole inflorescence now anyway and be done with it. I've enjoyed the flowers for months already, and it's getting kind of "gangly" looking for my taste anyway. What do you paph. experts think?

Matt

[Diane]

I'm no expert, but if you've enjoyed the blooms for a while and want to help the plant conserve some energy, I'd cut the spike. I have done this with some of the Phals I have that have WAY too much blooming time. Usually they almost immediately put out another spike, probably just to spite me LOL.