First Home Grown Spike!

[scy]

I started with my orchid collection about 6 months ago and thanks to everyone and their wonderful advice in helping me learn more about orchids (and saving them), I finally got a nub that will one day turn into a spike! *fingers crossed*

Yay! I'm so happy! So, any idea how long I will have to wait between now and bloom time?

[neb]

That is great make sure and post

[scy]

I will definitely post pictures of its progress! I think Spring is my favorite season now! There's so much growth with most of my orchids. I have new canes, new keikis, mystery nubs and tons of roots! It's always so exciting to see new things happening. Even one of my dens is sprouting canes like crazy but the leaves are purplish rather than green. I don't know why (since the leaves were a lush green when I got it) but even that in itself is beautiful.

[neb]

I have den that bloomed for the first time this year. The only thing I did different was give it so much sun that it got a little purple. But hey I liked how that looked too and now it has blooms that mach

[scy]

Oh that's probably it! I moved my sheer curtain off to the side for the winter to let in more light. So far, I haven't put it back on since I haven't seen any burn from my orchids but the den's leaves are dark green & purple on the new canes. I'd love to see photos of your den!

[WhiteRabbit]

woo hoo!
it can be quite a while before that's gonna be blooming, 2-3 months maybe ? tho it varies by plant, and temps and light. it's fun watching them grow tho

[en3rmax]

Congrats scy,

From the position where it's starting to grow from it will be a spike.

It's a fantastic feeling when u get ur first spike, i've got 3 in spike atm one has 2 spikes so that was a first for me.

Getting more light has always been the key to get my phals to spike and feed them with good quality fertilizer - i use dyna-gro orchid pro. The colour of the leaves is a good way to tell if ur orchid will spike, u want to aim for a nice olive green.

[scy]

Originally Posted by WhiteRabbit

woo hoo!
it can be quite a while before that's gonna be blooming, 2-3 months maybe ? tho it varies by plant, and temps and light. it's fun watching them grow tho

That's certainly a lot better than Christmas! I got this in bloom as a gift. It certainly is fun watching them grow. Now I'm kneeling by the window staring and willing something to happen with my orchids. On a separate note, did you figure out what your nub is?

Originally Posted by en3rmax

It's a fantastic feeling when u get ur first spike, i've got 3 in spike atm one has 2 spikes so that was a first for me.

Getting more light has always been the key to get my phals to spike and feed them with good quality fertilizer - i use dyna-gro orchid pro. The colour of the leaves is a good way to tell if ur orchid will spike, u want to aim for a nice olive green.

I couldn't agree more! Congratulations on your spikes! I'd love to see photos of yours. Thanks for the tips!

[neb]

You must be doing something right if it is in bloom now and it was in Christmas too

[WhiteRabbit]

Originally Posted by scy

That's certainly a lot better than Christmas! I got this in bloom as a gift. It certainly is fun watching them grow. Now I'm kneeling by the window staring and willing something to happen with my orchids. On a separate note, did you figure out what your nub is?

yeah - I have had some plants be in spike several months before blooming, but those were growing outside in winter, and I think the lower temps slows the spike growth a lot - indoors, and in warmer weather, seems most of my spikes usually take about 3 months from when I first spot the tiny ones, til they bloom, but believe it can be less time on some ...

the nub on the victoria-reginae? I'm not certain - but I do believe it looks like some buds taking shape!