Confidor

Bought Confidor yesterday. 500ml at S$110. Dosage according to it's label says 2.5ml per 10l of water. It's also labeled for various crops and according to the shop, it's less toxic. He do not need to record my particulars for the purchase of Confidor. He would have to take down my particulars if I buy Dimethoate according to regulations. No wonder I can't find it on the shelves of nurseries recently. There goes a cheap systemic insecticide; but I guess it's for the better the environment and users. Well, let's see if Confidor will be just as effective. Used it today and do not seem to detect any odor which is good but it's tricky to measure 2,5ml.

My Spathoglottis Freckle Face is spiking. There are 3 spikes! This is the most successful Spathoglottis I had. The Spathoglottis Twin Color and a purple hybrid do not flower as frequently. The worst is the purple hybrid. Wonder why given the same treatment. But, since I have no clue to it's genetic background, can't seem to tailor a routine for them.

Saw spikes coming off Mokara Sayara Red again and there's 2 of them! This is the 3rd spiking in 3 months from the same plant! It's sibling just 5 inches away has been sulking for 9 months! Also saw 2 spikes coming off the Rhyncovanda Colmarie as well. The Super-K seem to be doing it's job well now it's up to confidor to live up to it's reputation and keep the thrips at bay to allow the flowers to bloom to it's full glory.

Wet wet wet

Can't recall another day which rained as much as last Sunday. Was supposed to feed my orchids but the look of the sky didn't seem right and so decided to do it in the evening instead. The rain subsequently washed all that away. By evening, my little rain meter overflowed which means it rained more than 150mm last Sunday. Good thing my place is not near a canal..Decided to catchup on the feeding and did so last evening with an extra dose of fungicide. And, it rained again today..sigh...hope the fungicide did enough damage on the fungi that they can't make a comeback anytime soon.

Called up a couple of Agriculture Supplies companies to enquire about Confidor. Heard that this is effective against my arch enemy - thrips. Was warn that this chemical is ex but I couldn't believe when I was quoted $110 excluding GST for a 500cc bottle. Dosage is approz 1cc per liter and that works out to be at least $1.6 each time I spray.

Later, my conversation with a business associate somehow touch on the topic organic farming and I was worried when the reference to organic means farm produce without chemicals. How wrong she is. Look, organic, just means no synthetic chemicals. There are pesticides that are organic - rotenne or derris for example. Though derived from a plant, it is no less toxic. Wonder how many people out there has the same idea...Well, ignorance is not all bliss.

Anyway, I'll go buy a bottle of Confidor and add it to my chemical warfare routine to increase the variety and hopefully the bugs will be too busy guessing what hit them and not to develop detox mechanisms..

Phal. Roussel & Onc. Kihilli

Saw 2 unexpected spikes today. Didn’t realise till the Phaleanopsis Roussel flower blooms and on closer inspection there's another spiking. Phal. Roussel is one plant that I'll recommend Phal lovers to buy. The 2 plants I have flowers more readily than the purple or white phaleanopsis hybrids commonly available at nurseries. Besides, unlike the "disposable" Phals, there seems to be no reduction in size of the flowers. It has purple dots spread evenly over pink petals.

Phal. Roussel

Phaleanopsis flowers are elegant and they last 2-3 months if protected from elements - like if you display them in your living room or office. I would consider them easy plants to grow. However, pay close attention to the undersides of the leaves. They are very susceptible to spider mites. These nasty bugs will kill the plant in no time if left unchecked. Phaleanopsis are monopodial but they do not have the central stem to store food like the vandaceous plants and if the leaves are gone so goes the whole plant. Spiders mites are not insects; they are members of the arachnid class along with spiders and ticks. You need to use an acaricide like mitac not regular malathion. I make sure I spray the undersides of the leaves every time I feed my plants to dislodge and reduce the mites’ population. Or if you can afford the time, do regularly wipe the undersides of the leaves gently with a damp cloth or tissue. And, if you notice red stains on your cloth or tissue, you've got mites; do clean them more often or consider some form of treatment; at least with a oil spray if you do not want to use chemicals. To make your own oil spray, use this formula - dissolve 1 teaspoon of liquid dish washing liquid into 1 litre of water. Then add to the mixture 4.5 tablespoon of cooking oil - Soybean or Corn - and mix well to form a milky emulsion. Use this to spray the whole plant thoroughly especially the undersides of the leaves. Spray only early in the morning or evening. Spraying oil on a plant during hot weather like the midday can suffocate the plant.

Onc. Kihilli

Flower on my Onc Kihili bloom again. The spike on the has been there since two years ago and one flower will bloom every 3-4 months lasting for up to 2 weeks. DO NOT cut off the spike after flowering for this plant. In fact when I first bought the plant, the original spike broke during the journey home as I didn't pack the plant properly. I leave the short stub of the spike where it was and I was extremely surprised when a new spike grew off it. I am glad I did not cut it away, which I normally did to most spent spikes with the exception of Phals. The plant since has threw out another new spike and both spikes has been flowering on and off every 3-4 months for past 2 years.

Thrips and thrips ....

Being too busy and didn't photograph the Cycnodes :((. Must make to note to photo the last Cycnode spike expected to bloom by mid week.

The Ren. Kalsom finally bloomed. Unfortunately, 2 weeks of negligence has resulted in thrips coming back as evident by the white streaks on the petals. The white streaks are also seen on the dendrobium flowers. Wish there were other methods to get rid of the thrips other than chemical warfare. Got to go on the warpath again today as there are 3 new den spikes again.

Rhynchlorides Memoria Suranaree

My Rhynchlorides bloomed and guess what, there is another new spike forming off the spike (see the top left corner). And I see another spike to the left of the current one. This is exciting! The stems seems a little thin though.

A new spike to the left of the existing spike

This is buy is just perfect. The plants flowers every 3-4 months and now more frequent. The new fertilizer seems to be working. However, need to pay more attention to the overall health of the plant. Orchids do have the tendency to put out a last ditch effort to propagate it's genes when threatened or diseased with "extra flower spikes". I lost a dendrobium this way. However this plant appears healthy.

I have switched to include a Super-K water soluble in my fertilizing regime. I used do 15-27-27 (67) on the first week and 15-15-15 (63) subsequently. Learnt this from a course by OSSEA. Decided to insert in a Super-K mix on the first week instead and 67 the second week with the rest of the month 63. The Super-K has seems to trigger the dendrobium bonaza. Unfortunately, this regime do not move the Grammatophyllums.

Got hold a several Orchid books from Central Library. Unfortunately, none of the books were written by Asians and do not mention Grammatophyllums.. I would recommend 2 of the books of the I borrowed - Understanding ORCHIDS by William Cuillina and ORCHIDS by Wilma and Brian Rittershausen. Both are reader friendly and will appeal to both novice and experienced growers. I'll go back to the books now and hopefully can find a means to keep the bugs at bay with less chemicals.. ciao