Gemstone Orchids?

[jen.kirsten]

Hi everyone, I just picked up a "gemstone orchid" tonight which is a Phal that is a beautiful blue sapphire color. Obviously not natural and the card that came along with it says that with proper care the plant will re-bloom with white blooms. Have any of you seen these and kept them going? I've attached some pics below. The color is gorgeous!

[NYCorchidman]

Yeah, they are very common and sold under the name of "blue diamond" orchid.
I thought about buying one just to get the nice pot they usually come in (white and blue candy stripe cache pot).
They are dyed so the flowers are deep blue and even the leaves are bluish.
On the next bloom, they will be white, unless you figure out a way to dye them again.

I already have a standard white phals, so I never buy these blue ones, although I think they will look stunning under certain settings.

[escualida]

Taking care of them should be the same as for any other phal.

[jen.kirsten]

Yep, it really looks nice in our bedroom up against a pale lavender wall. Very calming and it will look great when it re-blooms white later on. Anyone know how they dye them? All the leaves are green, green roots, green spikes but the nodes along the spikes have a blue tint to them!

[Leadfoot]

I have a similar one that I got at Lowes. It's my most vigorously growing Phal -- it has added four huge leaves in just a few months. It lives in a souteast facing window in my bedroom, and I'm hoping it will rebloom this winter with the cooler temps.

On my blue orchid, it appeared as if they injected the color near the base of the inflorescence and covered the hole with wax.

[jen.kirsten]

Leadfoot, after reading this I looked closely at the plant and can see two tiny holes on each spike. What a concept--custom colors! They also had some rather nice looking purple Phals in the same shop, I went with blue though.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by jen.kirsten

Yep, it really looks nice in our bedroom up against a pale lavender wall. Very calming and it will look great when it re-blooms white later on. Anyone know how they dye them? All the leaves are green, green roots, green spikes but the nodes along the spikes have a blue tint to them!

Good for you! Flowers can really enhance the interior deco!

I am yet to find out what they use to dye the plant, but it might be patent protected and not easy to find out.

I think there might be more than one way to do it at least. Yours is nicely dyed with even color tone. I've seen some with poorly dyed ones.
Also, some of them, the whole plant is dyed as I've seen ones with leaves that show blue cast over the original green leaf color.

I am thinking of trying a regular water based dye on one of my mini white phal to see if that works.

[NYCorchidman]

Originally Posted by jen.kirsten

Leadfoot, after reading this I looked closely at the plant and can see two tiny holes on each spike. What a concept--custom colors! They also had some rather nice looking purple Phals in the same shop, I went with blue though.

I've never seen purple. It would also be nice!

[jen.kirsten]

.

[Leadfoot]

I would try simple, water soluble, food coloring.