Covering spike in aluminum foil

[JAB]

So I just got done reading the latest Orchid Digest where author Calvin Wong offered a report on Cybidium growers in Korea. In the article under culture tips he mentions growers of Cymbidium goeringii covering the spikes after the flower buds are set with tin foil tubes in an effort to minimize chlorophyll development in colored varietals.

Does anyone have any experience with this with Paphs or any other orchid? I'm not sure how much more brilliant such a practice would make ones color?
Thoughts?

Cheers
Jake

 

[AdamD]

So I just got done reading the latest Orchid Digest where author Calvin Wong offered a report on Cybidium growers in Korea. In the article under culture tips he mentions growers of Cymbidium goeringii covering the spikes after the flower buds are set with tin foil tubes in an effort to minimize chlorophyll development in colored varietals.

Does anyone have any experience with this with Paphs or any other orchid? I'm not sure how much more brilliant such a practice would make ones color?
Thoughts?

Cheers
Jake

I know this is common practice among catasetum growers in an attempt to induce male flower spikes. I don't subscribe to the theory. Then again, I've never tested it myself. As far as pigmentation goes, I've not heard of the practice

 

[Happypaphy7]

It won't be the same on paph or other orchids.

Cym. goeringii naturally show green in their flowers, but with this can interfere with specific desires results of colored varieties.
As far as I remember, it's mainly the red colored variety that is very difficult to get the color right. Has to do with temperature while the bud grows as well as having to be kept covered in the early spring.

I only grew the wild type as a kid.
Certain colored varieties are just out of reach, both availability and the price range. lol

Regarding catasetum flowers, I agree with Adam.
It is not true what some people say. I've also heard about temperature and light.
Truth is they will make whatever they want.

 

[KyushuCalanthe]

That is the common practice here in Japan from what I've seen.

 

[Happypaphy7]

It's a Cym. goeringii thing, Japan and South Korea being the main places where people are crazy about them. lol

 

[NYEric]

It protects the buds from alien cosmic rays.

 

[gego]

It protects the buds from alien cosmic rays.

Like.

 

[Happypaphy7]

But isn't that supposed to cause mutation and make even more desirable flowers? lol

 

[NYEric]

Yes, like colchicine treatment!

 

[jokerpass]

There is a reason to cover the buds with aluminum foil by the end of October. To understand why they do this in Japan and Korea, you have to understand where the plants are grown in the wild. Cymbidium goeringii are found on the floor of deciduous forest in East Asia. In the fall, when the leaves fall off from the trees, they cover the forest floor. Cymbidium goeringii flower is induced in the middle of the summer and when the buds poke out from the surface in the fall, they are covered by these fallen leaves. Since the flower buds stay dormant and flower stem don't really start elongating until end of January, the buds are pretty much covered by the leaves in the dark from 5-6 months.

To simulate what happens in nature, the Japanese and Korean use the aluminum foil to cover the buds in culture.

The colour is intensified by this technique in conjuction with the very low temperature in winter (just above freezing mark).

Here is a Japanese Cymbidium "Haruka" that is blooming in my collection now. The first picture is the flowers that was capped. The second picture is the flower that was not capped.
FYI: What happened was that the flower buds came up too late so it is too late to cap, so I just let it bloom without capping.