The same lovely Prosthechea cochleata that I just pollinated have also been working on a new bud on this years’ growth. I thought it would wait until spring to bloom since it just finished blooming on the previous years’ bulb. But, this little lady had other plans, and she is facing some complications.
For some reason the bud started turning brown a few weeks ago, and the rot (I assume this is what it is) have been slowly, very slowly, spreading down towards the bud inside the protective sheath. I have no idea why this might be happening, but I wanted to wait as long as I could before doing something about it. Hoping that the flower spike inside would have enough time to develop before it was time for an emergency cesarean section.
Last night, the time had come. We are going away for a few days over the holidays so since I cannot keep a close eye on it I could not wait any longer. I cut the browning tip off with a sterile blade, making the cut with as wide of a margin as I could, then powdered the tip with some cinnamon. I had hoped that the rot would stop and the bud could get a chance to emerge on its own, but already this morning the cut edge looked a bit suspicious. So I carefully peeled open the sheath to expose the developing bud. I hope the spike will continue to grow.
With both conception and this forceful delivery this little lady has had a very busy few weeks. I hope she will still talk to me in the morning. Sometimes I wish we had a baby-cam for when we leave town at critical moments like these…
Looks like you did superb surgery Dr. Karma! I’m sure she’ll put forth the spike
He he, thanks… I really hope so. I’ll keep you posted.