Cymbidium orchids - From spike to bloom

We purchased a very large pot of cymbidium orchids two years ago and divided it after it finished flowering. We didn't get any spikes last season but were quite happy to find some this year.

April 2016 - The first challenge is identifying and differentiating spikes from new growth. This is a spike, which looks and feels slightly rounder than new shoots will.

In this photo you can see one spike on the left side of the black pot, and two spikes off the green pot (one on each side).

 A closer look - round-ish spike on the left and a pointier new shoot on the right of the black pot.

Three more examples of cymbidium spikes. As they grow, they look tapered at the base and point, while new shoots will start branching into fresh leaves.

Like this shoot which is starting to split quite quickly. If you're not sure, just wait for the spike/shoot to grow more and it will be very obvious.

June 2016 - Very obvious which ones are cymbidium spikes. They appear to have a loose covering around the developing buds.

The forming buds are starting to appear. Spikes can extend very far and keep growing longer. At this point, you can very gently stake the growing spikes for a neater look. You don't have to do this if you don't want to, or if you have a cascading variety.

July 2016 - The buds are getting some colour and starting to spread out along the spike. You can just see to the left that the spike grows longer and extends out past the original sheath part.

August 2016 - Buds are quite spaced out now along the spike.

During this stage, they can be quite sensitive to excessive heat. We had one spike which was more exposed to sun than the others and some of the buds dried up and fell off, with the remaining ones producing deformed flowers.

September 2016 - Flowers finally blooming after 4+ months! They started out a golden-yellow colour with a deep red lip.

 After a week, a slightly lighter yellow with some pink-beige striping.

So about 4+ months wait, and the flowers have lasted about 2+ months before finishing up so it has taken over half a year to prepare this blogpost! Unfortunately, cymbidium blooms tend to get discoloured as they age which is more obvious in lighter shades. We do have a few more pots of different cymbidium varieties that have not bloomed yet so we'll see some different colours in the coming years.