Speed of spike growth in Phals

[Paula Frayne]

This is for all you phal experts out there. Does the speed of flower spike growth vary or differ among species/hybrids/noid phals? I have a noid which started to spike at the beginning of Sept and is already forming buds, while my Mini Mark 'Holm' and Penang Girl started to form spikes at the beginning of October and the spikes are barely an inch high. All three of these plants are grown together and are treated the same. I still consider myself a 'newbie' at growing orchids and I was just looking for some insight.

Thanks in advance for any comments

[OrchidSue]

In my experience, spike growth varies even between individuals regardless of genetics and often multiple spikes on the same plant. They seem to do what they want to do when they want to do it .

Susan

[Bird Song Farm]

Yep, Sue nailed it. They are just like people, no two exactly alike.

Al

[camille1585]

Yes, like they mentioned, all phals behave differently! But in general my hybrids take about 90-100 days. Some are a bit faster, some a bit slower. It also depends on the temperature you grow them at. I have a Mini Mark too, and that one is a bit of a slow grower. In my conditions (indoor temp 20°C roughly) this one takes almost 4 months to bloom. It also frequently throws out multiple spikes. This year mine has 3 spikes!

[jkofferdahl]

Yep, with Phals you just have to be patient and let them do what they want to do. I've had a Phal start a stem and then take about a year before it actually bloomed. A sort of rule of thumb is that they take about 3 months from spike initiation to flowering, but every Phal ever sprouted strives to prove itself the exception to this rule.

[Paula Frayne]

Thank you all for the information. Camille - thank you for the info on Mini Mark, I don't know if I can wait that long for blooms!