Paph Lowii Double Spiking

[Malipoense]

I just found two spikes on my paph lowii that I got about a month ago, yay!! My lowii spiking should be able to make up for the time I thought my micranthum was in sheath, but wasn't. Unfortunately, it looks like one spike seems to have been chewed on a bit by an insect I have it circled in blue in the picture below. Do you think the spike will survive, or will it die off? At least the other spike is fine and will be able to develop okay. Next picture is the other spike, last one is the whole plant.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Congrats. I love this species, it's so colorful and charismatic.

I'm going to sound like a delusional person for saying this, but give the flowers a sniff now and then during the daytime once they've been open for a week or so. My P. lowii flowers have an incredibly faint floral scent some years. First time I smelled it, I assumed I was imagining it or that it had gotten sprayed with air freshener or something. It's strange, though, because some years I never smell a thing and other years I'm able to.

 

[Malipoense]

Congrats. I love this species, it's so colorful and charismatic.

I'm going to sound like a delusional person for saying this, but give the flowers a sniff now and then during the daytime once they've been open for a week or so. My P. lowii flowers have an incredibly faint floral scent some years. First time I smelled it, I assumed I was imagining it or that it had gotten sprayed with air freshener or something. It's strange, though, because some years I never smell a thing and other years I'm able to.

Will do! Strange, I have never heard of lowii being fragrant before but I'll smell it to see if it's true. It's definitely odd if your lowii is fragrant sometimes but not other times. Maybe the fragrance is influenced by varying temperatures, light, watering?

 

[Ray]

Paphs bloom from the crown, not from between lower leaves like a phalaenopsis.

 

[mrhappyrotter]

Will do! Strange, I have never heard of lowii being fragrant before but I'll smell it to see if it's true. It's definitely odd if your lowii is fragrant sometimes but not other times. Maybe the fragrance is influenced by varying temperatures, light, watering?

I don't think any official sources list it as fragrant, which is part of the reason I doubted myself the first time I noticed it. Since then, I've read some comments over the years (perhaps here on ST but likely on other sites) where other folks have said they also detected a very faint scent. But it's not a common experience.

I assume there are some environmental factors at play, but I haven't figured them out. Maybe it has to do with exposure to natural sunlight? I've got several plants, like the commonly grown bromeliad Wallisia cyanea, whose flowers are non-fragrant or only faintly fragrant indoors under lights, but if taken outdoors into natural sunlight, they become powerfully fragrant.

 

[Tom-DE]

Paphs bloom from the crown, not from between lower leaves like a phalaenopsis.

It is from the crown but I don't think/see it has double spikes tho.

 

[Jpari]

In the second picture, the object in question is very small and difficult to see, but, could that perhaps be a new growth coming up?

 

[Malipoense]

They are definitely spikes at this point, both of them grew out a bit more so they are more visible. The fuzziness of them and coloration makes it a tell tale sign of spikes developing.

 

[Morja]

Oooh the lighting of that picture helps differentiate where growths begin and end.
Exciting!

 

[Ray]

Yes, that photo is much better.

 

[Jpari]

Ok, this makes much more sense now that we have a better pic. I am seeing two fans each sending up one inflorescence from their crown. That is a well grown plant.