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Is this a flower spike on my cambria?

14 years ago

Hi, I'd like to know if the small knobby growth at the base of my cambria is the flower spike. It's my first cambria so I'm not very familiar with it yet. I bought the plant last autumn. It looks green and healthy and had a new pseudobulb during the winter. I've been waiting for it to flower. If you are an experienced cambria grower, could you tell me what the knobby thing is? Is it a flower spike emerging?

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Comments (5)

smwboxer
14 years ago
Looks like a new root.
mkpsimon
Original Author
14 years ago
Hmm... It looks much thicker than the other roots it had before. 2 or 3 times thicker, I'd say.
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Very beautiful flowers CJ! I have (had) one almost exact like that. Re bloomed for me one time last year. I split the plant to give one to my friend as a favor. The other half is barely surviving right now but produced some young shoot. I am nurturing them like a baby because I love the flowers. I don't think it liked the heat I had in my sun room that much either. I am very watchful this year. If the heat in the sun room goes up to 27 degrees. I move them into my living room instead... Don't want any more damage. The flowers are very striking! I want to ask you all a question about put them outside. I heard some of you said you leave the orchids outside in summer and bring them in when the weather starts to get cold or cool down. What about rain? We all know and talked about don't let water gets in the crown of the orchids otherwise it will rot the leaves. How can they survive with rain pour on them? Or you do shelter them under some kind of protection? Please let me know. Tanie
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arthurm
14 years ago
I have the same opinion as smwboxer. Plant looks very healthy but if that is a flowering spike it is coming from the wrong place.

Someone in Europe is giving those orchids half a name. You probably have
Vuylstekeara Cambria which is a intergeneric hybrid in the Oncidiinae sub-tribe, the flower stems appear next to the pseudobulb from under the leaves at the base,

I haven't got this particular orchid and you might get more opinions in you repost over on discussions.
mkpsimon
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, arthurm and smwboxer. That's true, the orchid only had the name 'Cambria' on the pot label. I got it from a DIY supermarket so I suppose the growers at the nursery where it came from (in Holland?) don't really bother to give their plants' botanical details to supermarket customers.

But anyway, what is the realistic time to wait for a new spike? I'm quite new to orchids so I might feel a bit too excited about the flowers : ))
mkpsimon
Original Author
14 years ago
One more question. How big should the pseudobulb get in order to flower? The original one that bore the spike looked rather old to me. It was (and is) big and ... sort of "meaty", like a cactus. The new one is slender and still looks more like a shoot, nothing bulbous about it. Will it have to swell like the old one before flowering?

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