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Blue Phalaenopsis

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I bought a blue flowered phalaenopsis orchid from my local garden centre its fit and healthy but I have been told its probably been dyed and if it flowered again it would revert to its natural colour,do you think this is true,by the way the blue flowers have been on for ages.On looking closelly at the flowers I would say some of the flowers are maybe slightly more tinged than others,the roots and leaves look normal.
I dont know if I am allowed to say where I bought it from but it was Barnett Hill garden centre near Hagley,West Midlands there are 2 spikes on each spike,they were originally £30.00 but last weekend they had a couple of dozen plants left and they had dropped the price to £20.00,cant get a picture at the moment will try later.




Answers

 

I've never heard that one before, Dad, it sounds rather like an urban myth to me. Keep it going and tell us what it is like next year.

3 Dec, 2010

 

....Although I have to say that I've never come across a really blue Phalaenopsis! If it has been dyed, then, yes, I would think that any future flowers would be their natural colour.

3 Dec, 2010

 

are the leaves blue tinged? if yes then it is dyed. and the plant will revert back. The only way for the plant to take up the colour is in the water via the roots. Cut flowers are done this way, cut and stes popped in dye solution.

I suppose it depends on the shade of blue it is. Some 'blue roses are anything but.

3 Dec, 2010

 

A new one to me too. Would love to see a photo!

3 Dec, 2010

 

Me too...

3 Dec, 2010

 

there is an indigo blue one according to the orchid society, dont know how blue it is though

3 Dec, 2010

 

Maybe a variety or hybrid of Phalaenopsis violacea coerulea?

Pictures:

http://www.sapphiredragonorchids.com/SDOgallery.htm

3 Dec, 2010

 

It could be Tug, but here they are £30 or more at flowering size from specialist growers! It's not in the culture of UK garden centres to sell anything other than noids - it does happen occasionally, but they tend to be Paph or Den hybrids. One of the reasons (I doubt that I'm telling you anything new here) is that their care requirements are higher, with Phal violacea being notoriously picky.
I'm personally interested to see if there is a blue noid out there!

4 Dec, 2010

 

Please Meanie, what are "noids"? And £30 is the original asking price for this plant, so it might be a rarity...

4 Dec, 2010

 

Hellp Beattie - Twiggysdad has edited the question. Which is not a problem.
Noids means "no id", in as much as the grower has offered no provenance as to the plants parentage. For example; I bought a noid Phalaenopsis that is identical in every way to a Yu Pin Pearl belonging to one of my customers (who is a fanatical orchid grower). Now whilst visually he would "put the mortgage on it" there was no provenance attached, so it's still a noid! People in the orchid world can get very touchy about these things. Fact is, mine cost £6.99 when his cost over £20 as a non flowering size plant. Yet we both bought it for the same reason!! We liked them. There are orchid collectors who would not countenance having a noid under any circumstances!
The orchids I have, I bought because I liked them. I've only paid the extra for two that are tagged, plus one other that was reduced.
I hope that you don't think that I'm trying to bring a downer on all this - I'm not. I would love to find a genuinely blue Phal!
There is one real advantage to these "noids" - they are hybrids that have been developed by commercial growers to be quick and easy to raise and flower.

4 Dec, 2010

 

Thanks, Meanie, I am always learning.
Do commercial growers really put a dye in the water to colour the flowers of plants?

4 Dec, 2010

 

Not that I know of as far as orchids are concerned BA. What is not uncommon though in my experience, is for the colours to change a little once they're moved to the different conditions of your home.
Below is a link to a photo that I posted that demonstrates this. It's actually two photos together, but the text explains all....

http://www.growsonyou.com/photo/slideshow/132833-same-plant/member/meanie

No different to the plants in the garden really, but it demonstrates how the commercial growers techniques "manipulate" the product in order to achieve sales success. This particular plant was bought in bloom in the depths of winter.

4 Dec, 2010

 

Yes. I would guess that the first flower opened in a warm, humid tunnel and the second in a rather drier room in the house? But I see your point.

4 Dec, 2010

 

Added to a computer controlled light regime as well.....

4 Dec, 2010

 

Thank you Meanie. I'd realised that Twiggysdad had added more info, including the price. "Noid" is very useful shorthand.

4 Dec, 2010

 

True, Meanie. "Noids" are the norm here, as well. I was just hoping that one of the major growers suddenly grew some imagination and took a chance on some coerulea seedlings. Too much to hope for, probably!

4 Dec, 2010

 

What I'd really like would be a Vanda type blue in a Phal Tugbrethil!

4 Dec, 2010

 

That's a thought, Meanie!

5 Dec, 2010

 

Believe it or not, there is no such thing as a natural blue phalaenopsis orchid. From the dates written here i can see that this is recent, and that is because there is a new product on the market that is a in fact coloured, and if you check the label on it there will be a little paintbrush in a corner. Unfortunately the european sellers are more focused on quantity rather than quality, so it is hard to find a decent orchid. Also this was only being sold for christmas so it is not likely that you will find this again until november.

21 Jan, 2011

 

one of our local GC has a bright BLUE phalenopsis and I asked and was told 'dye'. Latest idea from the Netherlands apparently.

23 Jan, 2011

 

The Dutch growers will do anything to make money!

23 Jan, 2011

 

I would avoid them at all costs - a bit like dyed heathers. I just don't like them!

24 Jan, 2011

 

It's just plain wrong!

24 Jan, 2011

 

Yes, those dyed heathers look just terrible! Who buys them?! They look as if they've been dipped in poster paint by a naughty child.

24 Jan, 2011

 

Totally agree on the coloured heathers - dreadful!

24 Jan, 2011

 

Would-be breeders (or genetic engineers, or dyers) of blue flowers need to consider the uses of flowers in the garden and the home, and aesthetic sensibility. I suspect that hard phthalo blues will be a brief novelty, but the long term sellers would probably be soft periwinkles, blue-violets, light hazy-sky, and deep evening-sky shades.

25 Jan, 2011

 

How romantic that sound, Tug! ;-)

26 Jan, 2011

 

Betimes there is a touch of cloud-soft poesy 'mongst my dull, earthy prose! ; )

26 Jan, 2011

 

Who has been reading Shakespeare???? lol

28 Jan, 2011

 

Found this today.....

http://www.orchidgeeks.com/forum/orchid-hybrid-photos/19640-blue-phalaenopsis.html

1 Feb, 2011

 

Sorry, Meanie. It tells me that I need to log in to see whatever is on that page.

1 Feb, 2011

 

That's a shame.....
Quite a lot of info on there, mostly US centric. In the states they are grown by Silver Vase Orchids & Bromeliads of Homestead FL, based on white Phals. They're associated with a Dutch company called Floracultura and the process for introducing the colour has been patented. It should revert back to white on the rebloom.
Next time that I see a white Phal in the bargain bin, I'll grab it along with some food dye and see what happens.

2 Feb, 2011

 

lol, Meanie, you made me laugh. you think simply using food dye would be something that gets patented? And if you go to silvervase.com, or check any news source (sadly the Floricultura website itself doesn't show anything about this orchid, or at least none that I can see) you will see that it is stated as "not painted or sprayed", as well as taking between 48 to 90 hours to make it blue. Not even roses which go much faster than other plants (especially orchids which are rather slow plants) take longer than two days to get a color with food dye, so using that food dye can be ruled out. that, and the fact that the roots arent dyed blue when you buy them... but your free to try if you want.

10 Feb, 2011

 

We have sold hundreds of blue phalaenopsis, from Silver Vase in Florida. Upon close examination of the plants, it is clear that blue dye has been injected into the flower stems, probably just as one or two flowers begin to open. Silver Vase says they need one week's notice so they can "treat" the plants before filling an order.

There was a small, sharply pointed plastic tube in one of the shipping boxes, with remnants of blue dye inside it. It may be necessary for the little syringe to stay affixed to the stem, along with the dye, for several days, in order for enough dye to be absorbed by the stem and the flowers. There is also a blue tint to the edges of the leaves, especially on their under sides.

Using our own devised syringe, along with green food coloring dye, we turned a white phalaenopis green within a few days. St Patrick's day treasure, anyone?

7 Mar, 2011

 

Great observation and experiment Richsacher. When I was a school lab tech we used to dye flowers and leaves with food dye as one of the kids' experiments. They (the plant material, not the kids!) looked really pretty with colour all over and darker veins and edges.

7 Mar, 2011

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