Just a follow-up to say thanks to both of you, your advice was absolutely correct. Here are photos of one of my dry-sheathed catts, Cattleya Mary Jim, a cross between Cattleya Easter Chick and Cattleya Titrianae that was registered 9/6/1992 by J. Grezaffi. I thought the sheath I originally cut open at the top might act like a plastic bag and hold water inside, so I removed it. Here are the naked buds. Here is another set of buds breaking through a dried sheath. No problem! And here are buds coming out with NO sheath! What a crazy plant. I'm looking forward to the flowers and hope they'll be fragrant.

I was curious as to what bud midge was too and I found this website. But the title piqued my interest because only on one spike of one plant (Lc. Rojo), all of the buds opened beautifully, and lasted for an obscene amount of time, with the exception of one. It too was about the size of a grain of rice, and when I tried to feel it, to see if it was soft or brittle, it crumbled into nothing. I assumed it was the runt of the bunch and just didn't make it, for whatever reason. If all of them are doing it, though, humidity makes sense to me. Here is a link that might be useful: Bud Midge

Pearl ... Also make sure that your plant is getting enough LIGHT. African Violets need 10-14 hours/day of BRIGHT light through a window ... or indoor fluorescent light. When I finally was able to keep my African Violets alive, ... I next learned that I needed to keep them in BRIGHT LIGHT multiple hours per day to get their flower buds to open. Those plants that I didn't get into a well-lit location would not open their flower buds, even if the plants had flowers and buds when I brought it home. Those buds would just brown and die. So check your LIGHTING. An easy way to make sure your plant is getting enough light is to purchase an inexpensive desk-lamp and use one of the 60 W fluorescent spiral bulbs in it. Train that light onto your African Violet during your waking hours, and I guarantee that you will get bloom. Examples of such lighting setups are displayed below ...

Are you letting the soil in the pot dry out slightly (but not completely) between watering? Stick your finger about an inch into the soil - if it feels "slightly" moist then you have the green light to re-water. Are all of the buds drying up and falling, or just some of them? I have a few buds that do that from time to time. Also check for mites under the buds and leaves - look for leaf curling, webbing on the undersides, etc. They might be sucking the saps right out of the flower buds. A sharp blast of water should knock most of them off, but don't do it too hard. If they are on the plant and that doesn't work, try a mix of dish soap and water (about 1 to 10 mixture). If your humidity is on the low side the buds can dry out too... fill a planter tray with gravel, rocks, shards, etc and set the pot on TOP of the tray of gravels so the water that drains can evaporate and increase humidity. Jasmines also like slightly acidic soil - since you repotted it it's probably around the right pH (5.8-6.0) but a few coffee grounds couldn't hurt - this will stop any yellowing of leaves. And of course, fertilizing regularly might help, too. If it's a Jasminum polyanthum remember they generally like 4-6 weeks of temperatures below 60 degrees (but not lower than 40) to set an abundance of buds - any other time they will sporadically flower. I hope this helps :)