Photo progression time!
Four of my orchids, all phalaenopsis, are currently in spike. They waited right until Christmas to give me these little gifts and I'm delighted. My Island Collection orchids make up two of these but they are in a cooler climate than my other spiking phals so their growth is much slower. I've instead been watching and comparing the growth of these spikes on Rudy and Nameless, which is the the first time I've been able to rebloom either of these orchids!
Nameless was the very first orchid in my collection to start spiking and has since done very well! She is one of the orchids in my Book Collection to receive bottom heat and I do believe she is benefitting from this change. Its still early to tell but up until now, this inflorescence has been growing at a steady, somewhat slow, pace. Since the switchover, the spike has grown very well and steadily, already growing into its second node in just over two weeks. Keep in mind, this orchid was repotted only 20 days ago and is still establishing herself. I'm quite shocked at her growth but none of her roots, as far as I can see, have rotted and she seems to have taken to semi-hydro without much fuss at all.
In fact, her flower spike is growing at the same rate as the only currently established orchid (not) in my collection, Rudy. She is loving her home at my work shop and growing in roots every which way. Her flower spike has been coming in nicely and faster than Nameless' initially. It looks like Nameless has caught up to, if not surpassed Rudy's in growth already. I believe both went into spike roughly the same time, since I thought the spike was a root in the beginning.
I have also been optimizing my home environment this last week. I went ahead and bought a large capacity humidifier, which I've been meaning to do for ages since winter here gets so dry. I also remeasured the distance of my growing lights to the orchids after doing a little more research into the specific model of the bulb. I found that I'd placed my orchids just slightly too far from the light source. When in comes to grow lights, this small distance is a drastic difference in light intensity and therefore energy production. I've adjusted my lights and orchids accordingly so that they were closer and at the optimal level for the Sansi grow lights I'm using. I'm sure all these factors have really helped my orchids with their recovery. These flower spikes speak for themselves!
Nameless:
Day 3 (12.25.2017)
Day 7 (12.29.2017)
Day 14 (01.05.2018)
[day I applied heating mat]
Day 17 (01.08.2018)
Nameless was the very first orchid in my collection to start spiking and has since done very well! She is one of the orchids in my Book Collection to receive bottom heat and I do believe she is benefitting from this change. Its still early to tell but up until now, this inflorescence has been growing at a steady, somewhat slow, pace. Since the switchover, the spike has grown very well and steadily, already growing into its second node in just over two weeks. Keep in mind, this orchid was repotted only 20 days ago and is still establishing herself. I'm quite shocked at her growth but none of her roots, as far as I can see, have rotted and she seems to have taken to semi-hydro without much fuss at all.
In fact, her flower spike is growing at the same rate as the only currently established orchid (not) in my collection, Rudy. She is loving her home at my work shop and growing in roots every which way. Her flower spike has been coming in nicely and faster than Nameless' initially. It looks like Nameless has caught up to, if not surpassed Rudy's in growth already. I believe both went into spike roughly the same time, since I thought the spike was a root in the beginning.
Rudy:
Day 5 (12.27.2017)
Day 8 (12.30.2017)
Day 15 (01.06.2018)
Day 18 (01.09.2018)
I have also been optimizing my home environment this last week. I went ahead and bought a large capacity humidifier, which I've been meaning to do for ages since winter here gets so dry. I also remeasured the distance of my growing lights to the orchids after doing a little more research into the specific model of the bulb. I found that I'd placed my orchids just slightly too far from the light source. When in comes to grow lights, this small distance is a drastic difference in light intensity and therefore energy production. I've adjusted my lights and orchids accordingly so that they were closer and at the optimal level for the Sansi grow lights I'm using. I'm sure all these factors have really helped my orchids with their recovery. These flower spikes speak for themselves!