dead flowers as bark covering??

[eikon]

as the flowers on my Oncidums die and fall off, i have been placing them around the base of the plant, i think they look cool covering the bark.
I've been seeing sterility stressed all over these forms, and was wondering if it was ok to do this.

thanks

[Cynthia, Prescott, AZ]

Well, in my opinion it is not OK. Not because of virus, which we have been discussing in relation to cleaning tools, but because, as the flowers decay, they will be releasing lots of spores of whatever is helping them to degrade. Many of these spore could be of a type that can infect a less than very healthy orchid, so it is best not to have any more of these spores around than you have to. In my greenhouse I always remove all leaves that have fallen and empty my trash often, as some pretty awful stuff goes into the trash. Cynthia

[jerrymeola]

My wife hates that I put leaf cuttings and flowers in pots rather than taking them to the trash. (too lazy sometimes to walk to the trash can.)

Flowers dehydrate so fast that I feel it does nothing. If you really like the look go ahead. Whatever is on the flowers to help them decompose is a hundred more times stronger in the bark potting medium so I fail to see a problem.

This does not apply to any dead flowers or leaves that died too fast or unnaturally. Any suspected problems must be removed completely.

[esmithlp]

I don't place the old blooms in the medium on purpose but if they fall there I do leave them. Never had a problem before but then again I only get a few in a few pots here and there.

In Liberty, peace and love,
Eric H. Smith

[eikon]

thanks for the info all, i have decided to be safe, i am now putting the dried flowers in champaign glasses