Bill has sent me pictures of two plants he currently has flowering. The Dendrobium is one I gave to him some time ago. I find it easy to flower and it always comes up trumps. Mine has finished now. For some reason it flowered a bit earlier this year. It is normally coming up to its best for our show. That was scheduled before its usual date so perhaps no one had told it the show was cancelled!
The other photo is of an enemy that Andy Gissing had on his Cattleya.
“Our Vice-Chairman Andy Gissing has let me know that he has had an attack of thrips — no, that is not a sign of advancing years
but a difficult to eradicate insect that destroyed the flower buds on a ten spike Cattleya. This insect (Thysanoptera) has six life stages
and is only vulnerable to insecticides in the final adult stage. Andy has used a battery of sprays and a drench to combat it and hopes
for success. We shall no doubt hear.”
