Now watering with 100% Superthrive

[Hoa Tony Nguyen]

That is a nice Paph that you have right there. It looks exactly like my Paph. Maudia including the plant and leaves. It is peculiar that it goes multifloral. Any secret?

Cheers. Hoa.

[Jmoney]

nicely-shaped blossom. even nicer flower bract

[Piper]

nicely-shaped blossom. even nicer flower bract

Thanks Jason! That was last year's bloom. I offered that up to show that it behaved as expected on it's first bloom. I was stunned to see such weirdness on a subsequent bloom off an otherwise 'normal' plant. I thought if paphs weirded out, it was on the first blooms.

Nothing was abnormal in it's treatment this last year. Jokes of microwaving and over-fert were just that. There was a tiny bit of Osmocote fertilizer in the pot, but that was it. I otherwise go light on fertilizing the paphs.

I was curious what you thought of the 'spike'...you're the Paph Lord. Tell me, Obi Wan Kanobi!

Julie

[Jmoney]

Maudiae-type paphs are almost exclusively unifloral (except certain clones that seem to always produce two flowers), but a particularly well-grown unifloral plant may choose to produce two flowers. seems like your plant was healthy enough to attempt two flowers, but somehow got confused along the way. almost always self-limited, and future bloomings oughta be just fine. first bud does seem normal though. please do post pictures of how it ends up, could be a very interesting presentation...

[Piper]

Thanks, Jason - good info!

I'll be curious to see what the leaf does after the flower dies off. I checked my notes and this guy bloomed last year from 1/14-5/1, so we'll have a bit of a wait to find out!

The first bud is opening now, but slllloooooooowwwwwllyy. It looks perfectly normal so far. The little guy on the left will be the entertaining one, I think.

Julie

[Piper]

The first bud opened normally. (If you compare the first pic in this post with the first two from the start of the thread, you'll see the flower is doing what it should.)

What I thought to be a peloric dorsal turned out to be a sheath on the second bud. As it's grown, the symmetry now appears fine on the second bud. I've included a shot from the rear. (Staking the first bloom was a challenge with that dumb leaf in the way.) The second bud is just starting to open. What's incredible is that it's pointing straight up! That could be because the leaf is in the way to allow it to...oh forget it...I can't explain what it's doing! But it sure looks like it's giving us the finger!

Can't wait to see how it opens. The NH Orchid Show is coming up next month - do they give weird prizes? ...Stay tuned, Bat fans!

Julie

[Jmoney]

nice fat petals on that one!

[Piper]

The petals are fatter. (Hadn't noticed that.) Is that better? I actually like the flower symmetry on last year's bloom better. The dorsal laid out flatter and the colors were nicely defined.

But I know this year it's working lots harder to support the primary bloom, the ?secondary bloom? and that funky-as-hell leaf parasol. So who can judge...

I'm dying to see how the second bloom presents. It looks like it will be on it's back. Diane wonders just whom it's flipping the bird to...

Julie

[JB_Orchidguy]

I have heard an OD on superthrive can cause flowers to come out funky. Your look good though. That is funky how the spike has a leaf growing on it too. cool.

[Piper]

Mine was (and is - new pics coming soon) totally weird!

But I was just kidding about the Superthrive. I've also heard it could do that. This fellow just decided to go multi-floral on its own.

Julie