Artificially Blue Orchids?

[Mikeg]

that is definitely a Phal! I hope you get the answers your looking for!

[RosieC]

That is definately NOT a natural colour for a Phal so they have been coloured in some way.

I can't comment on whether it's toxic to the plant.

[Ethan]

Those are some very beautiful flowers, however, not very natural looking. I'm also very curious to hear if anyone knows how they were able to do this!

[johnblagg]

they actualy have spray cans of paint they use to dye flowers....I had a friend that was a florist and she did this often...the nursery I worked for also had a flower shop and they did this also

[camille1585]

Originally Posted by Ethan

Those are some very beautiful flowers, however, not very natural looking. I'm also very curious to hear if anyone knows how they were able to do this!

See my post on the previous page. A grower in france had explained to me how he does it.

[littlefrog]

I've just been all over the web looking for a protocol for doing this on live orchids, and I'm coming up empty... I think it would be fun to try, does your florist friend want to share some specifics?

Dying cut stems is trivial. I'm more interested on how to do it on live stems. I think it would definitely have to be an injection of some sort, dyes don't get absorbed by roots as far as I know (although I'd certainly buy one that did!).

Rob

[Ethan]

Originally Posted by camille1585

See my post on the previous page. A grower in france had explained to me how he does it.

Thanks, Camille - I did read your post, but I was wondering how they could do this on a live orchid.

I took a closer look at the picture and it doesn't seem as though the flowers have been spray painted, either. It does look as though the dye has been absorbed into the whole flower...

[Ethan]

I did a little research online about this. There seems to be a thing called "Rainbow/Happy Roses". Here's a few pictures and a description on how it's done:Rainbow Roses Are Extra Special Flowers For The Extra Special People In Your Life - The Fun Times Guide

From the info I found it seems you can inject dye into the flower stem while it's still growing and before the bud opens and the flower will bloom with that color or colors you've injected. Sounds like if you leave the flower on the plant it will bloom with those colors. I guess someone figured out how to do it with orchids???

[Ninesixteen]

I bought one. Upon inspecting it, it appears the dye is injected into the flower spike. I can see injection points. I wonder if normal food dye would have the same effect. I may attempt it once I have a white phal in spike.
They really are quite striking!

[MGTerry]

My local garden center had a bunch of these this weekend and I did a little research on them since it was obviously not natural (and I'm a research-aholic). The blue color comes from a "patented technological process" and they claim that it will last 2-3 bloom cycles. The process seems to be a big secret, but some people have speculated that they inject the plant with a silver solution. Not a big fan of artificially colored flowers myself, but I was curious to know what the deal was.