What is this new growth on my Psychopsis?
 

I am so happy, I was just looking at my collection and I happened to notice a new growth on my new psychopsis. It used to have a one and a half foot spike growing until about two months ago when I had to cut it off due to it developing some kind of virus :( So, just today I have noticed this new growth and I am curious as to what it is. Is it a new growth -good- or is it...a spike!!?:D. Can anyone tell me what it is?

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...3-31144434.jpg

I bet it's a new growth. Time will tell.

I hate the not knowing but I can wait for this one, I suppose :)

I think it's a new growth. Spikes come up in a corner of the flat side of the growth. At least on mine they do. And it doesn't make such a giant nubbin. Here's a pic of mine.

Thanks Camille. Is yours a Mariposa too? How long does it take for the new nubbin to mature?

Mine is a Butterfly. That spike started last week of March of last year, and I got the first bloom the the very end of July.
And like clockwork, I noticed a spike this week on the new growth! :)

Well now that I now that it is a new growth I can still be happy - I guess - I really wanted to have a spike but as they say all good things come to those who wait.

I have some more pics to show you to see if I have got a new spike or a new growth on my psychopsis mariposa GV. Please have a look and see what you think it is
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...4-19152501.jpg

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...4-19152611.jpg

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...4-19152622.jpg

That's still a growth IMO, too fat for a spike. And it's growing as slowly as a growth does. I had a spike just starting when you last posted, and it has grown nearly 3 inches since then.

Oooh kay then. I thought that it was more spike like but now that you have said that I will accept what you have said. It is a growth :( Oh well. Never mind. Thanks Camille

Just to be sure, I'll peel back the papery leaf covering the base of the spike on mine to see exactly how it began. Have to look tomorrow though, the plant's at the office.

Thanks Camille. I am just wondering if I will have to wait until the next leaf grows to the length of the oldest one which originally spiked. What I am asking is when will I get a new spike? Can it be at any time or will it only be when the next largest pbulb and leaf has matured?

The two spikes that mine has produced so far have appeared well after the growth finished maturing. Both years the bulb was completely mature by late fall, and the spike appeared late march. It could be a lighting issue that makes mine spike when it does. Even though it's in a south window, over here in the winter there are much more cloudy days than sunny ones.

Thanks Camille. So I guess that I have a long wait then. That is why I really wanted it to be a spike because all of the other growth's leaves are half as long as the one that was in spike before the virus got at it and I had to chop it off!:(
Patience is obviously going to have to be applied liberally to my little psy.

The leaves are only half the size? If it really was a virus, then it was likely not just in the stem, but the plant as well. That could explain the poor growth. One stunted leaf can happen, but in a healthy plant (not just pyschopsis), the following leaves should be progressively larger again. Any pics of the entire plant, and possibly of that spike you cut off?

Here is the virused spike that I cut off back in ?? Feb - I think
http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...2-03110743.jpg

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...2-03110659.jpg

I will take a pic of the whole plant tomorrow as the light is going now but I was advised by the seller to just cut the spike and then just wait for the next pbulb to mature. He didn't say that the whole plant would be infected though. This new growth started just after the spike was cut which is why I though that it could be a replacement spike.

The whole plant would be infected only if it was a virus, which I'm fairly certain it wasn't. Looks like rot instead.
I realized that I might have misunderstood something. The small leaves are on growths older than the one that bloomed? Then those are likely normal, the plant was probably still a baby then. And if the nubbin is on the bulb that had spiked, then anyway it's more likely to be a growth rather than a spike (though I don't know if Psychopsis bulbs are capable of multiple spikes.

Oh golly am I silly sometimes!! Yes you are right, it was rot not a virus!! :blushing: I have got another pic of the whole plant

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...psychopsis.jpg

As you can see the oldest leaf was quite alot longer than the other ones which are still maturing so I guess that I have a long wait ahead of me.

You don't mention when you got the plant. Did those small leaves grow in your care or where they always there?
Because to me it looks like a normal plant. On the contrary, the smallest leaf is the oldest (from the plant's seedling days), then going clockwise each leaf is a bit younger (and larger) than the previous. The largest one is the most recent. It's typical of a maturing plant. Then at one point once the plant is fully adult the future leaves will all grow to a similar large size.

So if you cut the spike off the largest growth, in all logic it will only spike again off the next, future growth.

Oh now it makes sense. I thought that the oldest leaf was the largest one but I had it the wrong way round. I see now. So the smallest leaf is actually the oldest one. OK, that is a lot better then. Well I don't mind waiting for this new growth now then because it is growing and it will give me a spike next year or even this year maybe. I thought that the smaller leaves would get bigger and they would give me a spike but I got that wrong -happily- because those other leaves have never grown since I've had it!! I got it back in september with a 10 inch spike on the go but I cut it off two months ago -rot. Thanks so much Camille for explaining psychopsis growth habits to me. I would have been waiting for the other leaves to grow otherwise :)

Glad to have helped you sort that out. :)
And the perfect way to be patient until it does spike again is to buy another spiking psychopsis! :rofl: These orchids are addictive, I'm thinking of getting another Psychopsis.

I know!! I was going to get the same one again from Schwerter Orchids -that was where I got this one from, but I decided to get a whole load of paphs instead. I might get another spiking psychopsis from there as they are only about 15 euro with a 10 inch spike but I thought that it would be more rewarding if I grew one from scratch! I'm hardcore!!

17.95€, I just checked!! :coverlaugh: I think I may have to order one next time I order there!

Schwerter is the best but I recently ordered from Elsner. I got two paphs and I was quite impressed with them. One of them is already growing a new growth and it's only been here for just over a week. Got some more paphs coming tomorrow from Ratcliffes so I am looking forward to that. I am into paphs now -just like The Mutant!!

I like Paphs too, but I'm waiting to see if I can bloom the 2 I bought in the fall before buying any more of them.

When I got my Psy. I got a paph (maudiae alba) and a catt. I have since discovered that my paph did grow a bud sheaf but it has stopped growing for some reason but I looked down the crown and there is a new leaf or sheaf emerging which is what made me order some more. I have done just that by ordering another two paphs from schwerter - Hung Sheng Venus which is the most beautiful paph ever!! and a Wardii Album which is in bud and growing rapidly. I also ordered two from Ratcliffe -Venustum alba and Wardii alba. I do love slippers especially green alba forms. I got a Parishii and a Venustum alba from Elsner. I just hope that I can get them to bloom for me. I have had paphs in the past that I bought in the supermarket in flower and I was very successful with them but this will be the first time that I will have bloomed one from scratch. Pray for me..