From our perspective, the most immediate cause of bud blast is a sudden and significant change in our environment. We are highly sensitive to our surroundings, especially when we are in the vulnerable state of budding. If you bring us home from a greenhouse or store, the shift in light levels, temperature, and humidity can be profoundly shocking. Our internal systems, dedicated to survival above all else, perceive this abrupt change as a threat. To conserve vital energy and resources for our core functions—like maintaining leaf and root health—we abort the budding process. The bud, being a non-essential luxury in a perceived crisis, is sacrificed to ensure the main plant survives.
Our relationship with water is delicate. Our aerial roots are designed to absorb moisture from the air and quickly shed excess water. Bud development requires a consistent and gentle flow of moisture and nutrients. If our roots are left sitting in water, they suffocate and rot, severing the supply line to our developing bud. Conversely, if our potting medium becomes bone dry, the hydraulic pressure needed to push nutrients into the delicate bud structures fails. In both cases of drought or flood, the bud is the first part to be cut off from the plant's resources, causing it to wither and drop as our self-preservation instinct takes over.
Opening a flower is an energetically expensive endeavor. We rely on sufficient light to perform photosynthesis and manufacture the sugars required to sustain this process. If the light levels are too low, we simply cannot produce enough energy to support the bud's development to full bloom. The plant must make a calculated decision: divert the limited energy to maintain existing leaves and roots, or waste it on a flower that may not successfully reproduce. The bud is deemed an unsustainable cost and is subsequently jettisoned. Alternatively, excessively intense, direct sunlight can scorch our tissues and create excessive heat stress, also triggering bud drop.
We thrive within specific temperature ranges, typically similar to what you humans find comfortable. When temperatures swing to extremes—either too hot or too cold—it disrupts our metabolic processes. Cold drafts from a nearby window or a blast of hot air from a heating vent can shock our systems. Furthermore, exposure to ethylene gas is a significant and often overlooked trigger. This gaseous plant hormone, which accelerates aging and ripening, is released by ripening fruit (like bananas or apples), exhaust fumes, and even cigarette smoke. Sensing this gas, we interpret it as a signal to hasten the reproductive process or abort it altogether, leading to premature bud drop.
As epiphytes, many of us naturally grow in trees where the air is constantly moving and humid. Our buds and flowering stems are adapted to these conditions. The low humidity commonly found in climate-controlled homes presents a serious challenge. Our tender, unopened buds lose moisture to the dry air through transpiration faster than our roots can absorb it from the pot. This creates a internal water deficit, and the bud, being a high-moisture organ, desiccates, turns brown, and is abandoned by the plant to prevent further water loss.
