Necessary Evil

Blasted my Orchids with a cocktail of Fertilizer, Fungicide and Insecticide. Hate to do it but it seems a necessary evil if I wanted to have flowers growing to full bloom. I had began growing pandan, papaya, starfruits, chilli and lime 1 year ago and would prefer not to spray as much as I can. But then even the edibles needed protection. It's amazing how fast the aphids and mealy bug appear. So I switched to using Neem Oil. Seems to deter pests on the edibles but not thrips on my orchids. The buds will just shrivel the moment it appears leaving a sad looking spike. Now I alternate neem and dimethoate and the flowers are back!

Finally, I'll be having flowers on my Den. Patria and Den. Siah KoKo soon. My minature Dendrobium hybrids are alread flowering - Cheat Chai, CKAI x canniculatum ... Best of all, my Rhyncovanda Colmarie bloomed together with the Aerides lawrencea and Vanda lamellata; all 3 wondefully fragrant!