Well Kevin... just sit back and imagine you're the expectant father that doesn't know what he's having.A girl, a boy,twins, whatever!! Just sit back and say "Surprise me". now that being said "me thinks it be a keiki too matey". those bands on the side of whatever it is really remind me of the bands on the canes(with the papery stuff)and that lloks like a root to me too. sorry... I have a alba form and a 'SanBar Stripes' and the last one keikied me.No flowers. That 'Red King' sounds really great. gb

Don't cut the 'bald' ones off, whatever you do :) Please do let us know your growing conditions - little can be said to help without that info. I'm glad to see people growing these awesome dendrobiums though for sure If the leaves are sticky, something is likely wrong - wipe down/spray with the anti-pest treatment of your choice just to be sure. These dends like other dends are somewhat susceptible to a thrip-like disease, which I have yet to identify for sure. Small black pellets, white streaking and tiny black/brown crawling insects are tell tale signs. I grow two cruentum primary hybrids and a few hybrids with 25-50% cruentum parentage, and I have an inkling that the hybrids are more robust than the species, although I'm not 100% sure. All the cruentums I've seen in real life look pretty ratty and nasty, but the primaries (green lantern, dawn maree, peng seng) and other hybrids (Lori's star, frosty dawn etc..) are much taller, fuller, with nice leaves and strong canes. But hey, who knows...I suspect some sort of pest infection combined with lack of light and musty potty material. In terms of my conditions (which may or may not apply to you!), I grow my dawn maree (cruentum x formosum) in window that gets direct morning sun, it's potted in coconut husk and is essentially root bound. It gets watered within 1-2 days of being dry during the growing season (now) but gets less water in the winter. Nearly killed my Lori's Star (Dawn Maree x Lori Tokunaga (cruentum x infundibulum) by A) watering too much when it didn't want water, and B) not watering it at all when it DID want water. As a result, it lost ALL it's leaves. Nearly chucked the thing, but saw three new growths this season, so it is now right next to Dawn Maree and is recovering (kind of). Just a note on repotting: If your plant has a new cane developing, it is risky to repot because you are disturbing all the new roots that are growing into your medium, even if the medium sucks. In my limited experience, I've found that the best time is to wait for the first emergence of a new growth, BEFORE roots come popping out. You will see a black furry nub at the base of the old canes. I waited too long for the aforementioned plant (ie roots were coming out already), and hence the 'kind of' recovery - the darn thing has been sulking. I predict the canes will be small and stunted this season, and I'll probably have to wait till next year for any sort of hope of blooms. If your new cane is smaller than the previous canes, your plant is likely not a happy camper. And if it has no new growth at all, then water VERY sparingly...(a mistake I made - I foolishly thought "Maybe more water will wake it up!"...learn from my failures!) It will wake up when it wants to and then you can do your thing. Oh yeah, and sphag is BAD for these guys fyi!! Others - Peng Seng (cruentum x tobaense) is under T5s, but gets similar watering and is happy. Frosty Dawn (Dawn Maree x Lime Frost (cruentum x scrabilingue) lives right next to it. Both potted in course coconut with charcoal and expanded clay pellets (quite airy) Dend tobaense (close relative) is not too happy - leaves are looking like they want to drop. It is potted in a finer mix of bark with sphag on top (vendor's choice and I neglected to repot)...I spied a new growth coming along yesterday and will likely repot this weekend before the growth starts making new roots. Hope that helps - these are awesome plants and I can't wait to get a green lantern. H&R orchids grow these fabulously and are responsible for most of the hybrids out there...they are visiting my OS this summer and I'll have to exercise some severe self control. -calvin

"Do these guys need a cool down to spike?" No, not really. The new cane(s) would need to mature first which would likely take most or all of a growing season. The catts may have started spikes on earlier growths. Can't say more without knowing more. H

another round of applause. there are some that bloom like yours and then there is mine.waaaa..... No i am not jealous at all.waaaaa.... Radha.