Cymbidium Seedling spike progress

It's been about 10 days since my last picture of this Cymbidium Red Beauty seedling's first spike and it has grown. The stem has elongated and the buds are spacing out with the bottom ones showing their individual placement as the tip continues to grow. This makes it easier to count the buds. There are 12 buds, very dark color. The suspense and excitement makes me want to hurry the bud and spike development along......BUT, overheating or overhandling can result in a broken spike or blasted buds.

I'll just be watching until they decide to open. We've had cool overcast and foggy days, then a few warm sunny days, with nights in the mid fifties. Last night the thermometer recorded a low below 50 degrees. The National Weather Service shows a front coming through today and a stronger colder one for next weekend (maybe some snow for the ski resorts). This will probably slow bud and spike development. The temptation to apply heat to speed things up is great.......But too much heat will make the buds turn yellow, shrivel and fall off (often called "bud blasting").

I picked the spike above to watch from a couple of tables of seedlings of the same cross because it looked like it would be the first to open. After taking this picture, I noticed another plant with an even taller spike and 15 buds. It is pictured below.