Pissed-off Pet Parrots vs. Paphiopedilum Isabel Booth
 

So, my one and only Paphiopedilum orchid from one week ago has been "multiplying" extremely rapidly and now, it has thrown a "mutated offshoot" - while I was away at another orchid show! Phylogenetic studies have since identified this new growth as Paphiopedilum Isabel Booth:
[(rothschildianum x stonei var. latifolium) x philippinense var. roebelenii]

My pet parrots are getting insanely jealous of the time I am spending with my Paphiopedilum orchids and they attacked this plant. It had 4 flowers on its flower spike in the morning, but by the afternoon there were only 2 left:

Attachment 122331

The lower flower was too badly damaged. You can see how abnormally vertical its pouch is positioned in the above photo.

Now, there is only 1 flower left:

Attachment 122332

NAUGHTY PARROTS!

Here is an old photo of the most likely culprit - he was found perched on top of the shower screen, looking very smug!

Attachment 122365

Oh well, never mind! There is a new growth already so if I grow it well, another flower spike will form eventually. The dorsal sepal leaves something to be desired but I love the amazing twisted, pendulous petals from its roebelenii heritage!

Photo of the whole plant:

Attachment 122333

There is one mature growth with a leaf-span of 75 cm and a flower spike which is 42 cm tall, plus one new growth.

Parrots have the destructive potential of a spoiled 2 year old human mind in a 250 kilo gorilla body, with a machete. If they were really pissed off the plant would be mulch. This was just a warning.

What kind of parrots?

Maybe get a giant bird cage for the paph. Ya, I'd like to see the naughty parrots.

I hear they taste like chicken :evil: :shock: :yikes:

Oh no! My new baby Conure is next to my orchids. LOL I don't spend that much time with my orchids. But My Black capped conure likes to take a bath when I water the orchids. SO I get all wet when tending to the orchids next to him.

Life with birds never a dull moment.

Yeah, what kind of parrot do you have? I had a hamster get lose and dig up one of my Paphs. That was not cool it even broke a root I was so mad.

I would love to see a photo of your parrots. Might be time to move one away from the others.

The naughty parrot was a male Double Yellow Headed Amazon parrot. It is normally the best behaved and gentlemanly of my 3 pet parrots. The other 2 are a female Double Yellow Headed Amazon and a Scarlet Macaw.

Yes, it was a warning alright. He was perched on top of the shower screen, smugly looking down at the destroyed flowers on the ground.

I'll post a photo of him when I get onto the laptop.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

---------- Post added at 10:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:35 PM ----------

An old photo of the most likely culprit has been added to the original post.

Oh dear! I'm glad my dog can't get near my.plants or at least ignores them. But what a beautiful parrot you have. Hope your plant continues to grow and do well.

He just wanted to make sure you didn't think the orchid was prettier than he is.

Love the family drama :biggrin: