Phalaenopsis bellina - spikes!
 

I have two P. bellina and a P. violacea that always looked healthy but were very slow growing.

One day I unpotted them to check the roots and noticed that they were all dehydrated. I think my mistake was to treat them like complex hybrids, when in fact it seems they require a lot more water.

So I cut all the dead bits and switched them to semihydroponics. They are much better in this setup with lots of new roots and flower spikes!

P. bellina coerulea
https://i.imgur.com/ItvDUcz.jpg

P. bellina - Notice there are 2 spikes, one on each side
https://i.imgur.com/Jt5PUda.jpg

Shiny leaves on the bellina. The P. violacea is the one on the left, and it is much smaller, so no flowers yet.
https://i.imgur.com/qkBzrlo.jpg

For the experts out there - I know that these species are called summer bloomers, but mine are a little off season. In your experience, will the spikes develop and bloom or they will just stay there for months and only bloom when it is actually summer again?

How wonderful! :)

Oh so very exiting.

This thing is SLOW

https://i.imgur.com/rslUQyV.jpg

It'll likely be in full bloom by summer. Spiking can occur a bit earlier. In other words, yours is doing what it is normally supposed to do.

I’m in the Southern Hemisphere. Summer is 7 months away :)

They still take a bit of time to develop.

Seasonal temperature swings prompt them to bloom. Perhaps there was a cooling trend followed by an increase of temperature.

Each individual could also have some individual variation in the timing of blooming as well.

I wouldn't worry about it. Just let it do its thing.

Your particular plant could even change the timing of its bloom for the next season, who knows.

Thank you for the info. I'm not worried, just really looking forward to see what the flowers will look like.

I bought this as a seedling on february of last year, and it's grown quite a bit. This is what it looked like when I received it:

https://i.imgur.com/SRjHbIe.jpg

It doesn't ever get cold here, but nights are definitely cooler than they were a month ago. Lows have gone from 20C to 13C these past few days.

That's significant enough of a temperature differential to initiate a spike, particularly if the temperatures rose again.

It's open! How powerful is the fragrance supposed to be? I can detect a hint of fragrance but only up close. Maybe it takes a few days for it to develop..?

https://i.imgur.com/Y5k6OHb.jpg