Orchid Progress......

When I posted about a month ago, I promised to show the progress of some of my orchids that are in the process of spiking at the moment. I thought it would be a lot of fun to follow them with photos from the beginning stages of the spike, to bud development and finally blooms. Since I last posted about my collection, I noticed that I now have a total of 5 Phalaenopsis orchids in spike, to an orchid grower, this has to be like wining the lottery. Today though, I'm focusing on the progress of my large white Phalaenopsis that you can see above. Nope, it isn't blooming yet but this is what it will look like when it does bloom in the upcoming weeks.

I've tried to be very faithful about taking photos of the spikes' progress and was able to remember to get the camera out at least once a week. So the above photo was taken about a month ago when the spike first started.

In a weeks time you can see quite a bit of growth progress was made.

The week after that.......

and finally, the week after that. At this point the spike is getting so large I will need to stake it soon.

This is the spike as it is today, a very large 16" tall and it has been secured by a stake and some of my dragonfly clips. So in about a months time, the orchid spike has grown quite large. Good things always come to those who wait, this is so true with orchids!!!

Over the next few weeks the formation of the buds will start and I will follow them through formation and finally blooming until they look something like the photo above, my blooms from last year.

Happy Thanksgiving holiday to everyone.