That's the hardest part, isn't it? ;p

Update: spike is oozing nectar and has attracted ants.. (hopefully it shows on pics, only have my phone camera)

Can't tell from the picture but... Look close for other critters, ants like to farm aphids for nectar. The aphids bite the plant and the nectar oozes which the ants consume or carry off. Generally the ants don't hurt the plant the aphids do.

Good luck,

Bob

If you grow orchids ant control is a must for the reasons stated by Bob above...

Will do, thanks..

Progress update:

chuckerfly, where are you located?

Thanks Harvey

Hey, Harvey, I'm in Brazil.

Progress update:

Almost there...

Close up of the partially open flowers from this morning:

Finally...

Nice going chuckerfly. Brazil has many beautiful natural orchid species. Are there any in your area? One of my favorite cattleya is intermedia, a Brazilian species...

Honestly, I don't know yet. I'm only recently trying to grow orchids, still learning to differentiate different but common orchids sold in nurseries. I googled Cat. intermedia, wow they are gorgeous! I do have a couple of Cattleyas, no idea on the exact species ID yet, hehee.

If there is an orchid society or club, joining will accelerate knowledge. You probably could google your geographic region with local orchid species and you may get some hits. If you try, let us know what happened...

Lovely. Looks like a rich, healthy, spike.

A splash of color for grey, gloomy Monday in my part of the globe..

Beautiful. Just over a month's wait. Not too bad.

We have sunrise, after many gloomy days in Toronto. Canada.

Thanks, Ingrida. Congratulations on the sunrise.. :)

I've got another one to wait for, a Cattleya hybrid I think, that is developing a sheath (I think it is based on google browsing). But it will be a looong wait, it starts developing around the same time with the Oncidium, but haven't grown much since then.