this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2023
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Nature and Gardening

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New flower spike on Phaelenopsis orchid (pixelfed.social)
submitted 1 year ago by sean@lemm.ee to c/greenspace@beehaw.org
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So excited to see a new spike emerging!

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[–] sean@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Great question! I know for sure because the picture is from a couple of weeks ago and by now it's clearly a flower spike.

I had your same question when the growth was at the stage shown in the picture. I looked up how to tell the difference between flower spike and root. What I learned was that two signs of flower spike are:

  • Located right below the middle of where a leaf attaches to the stem, because that's the location of a node that can become a flower spike. Roots can come from a greater variety of locations around the stem.
  • Shaped like a mitten, in other words the growth is slightly asymmetric. I believe the thumb is a forming node and the fingers part is where the spike will continue growing. The mitten shape is not present in this image, it developed a day or two later. In contrast, a developing root is fully symmetric/round.

There may be other signs too or these may be incorrect, please share if you know them!

[–] skip0110@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you! I have only seen 3 flower spikes so far (1 a year for 3 yrs) so this will be helpful next time one appears. Ours so far has started what ended up being flower spikes each time in Jan/Feb so around that time we get very excited on any growth :)

[–] sean@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago

I know what you mean! To be honest I get pretty excited about new roots too haha, all new growth is exciting