floppy phal leaves.

[bil]

Weird. I had my phals all on the same shelf, an all were doing fine, all treated identically.

Suddenly two of them went floppy, with the leaves as soft as anything.

(Your starter for ten points. Were they the best two or the worst two?)

I cautiously checked the roots as best I could but there was no obvious cause, and everything looked reasonably normal.

Anyway, I figured they were as good as compost, but part of my gardening skill lies in being lazy. So, I never got round to binning them and just kept watering and fertilising them as per normal as they hadn't actually turned brown. I was furious, as one of them was particularly nice, and had forked, so I was hoping for a good display from it next year. In addition, the MORON who had put the stakes in had managed, with the genius of the truly insane, to shove the damn stakes thru three leaves, but it had survived that.
Today I was checking that the scale infestation had responded nicely to chemical megadeath, and without thinking, I got hold of one of the leaves to check underneath, and discovered that all of the leaves on both plants had firmed up nicely.

How's that for an unexpected treat?

[Cntry]

Bil it sounds like the scale problem may now be gone for good. Congrats! Sometimes waiting is all we have to do it seems for what ever is ailing our orchids to recover or show signs of recovery.

Sometimes we win the battle and other times we don't. It just means we need to buy another orchid and try again. Its a learning process.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Cntry

Bil it sounds like the scale problem may now be gone for good. Congrats! Sometimes waiting is all we have to do it seems for what ever is ailing our orchids to recover or show signs of recovery.

Sometimes we win the battle and other times we don't. It just means we need to buy another orchid and try again. Its a learning process.

True. So many times I have forgotten to throw out, dig up, compost a plant that is CLEARLY on its way out, and then discovered it has decided to make a go of it after all.

[Cntry]

Originally Posted by bil

True. So many times I have forgotten to throw out, dig up, compost a plant that is CLEARLY on its way out, and then discovered it has decided to make a go of it after all.

You just have to love when it does that. I think everything gets sick from time to time. We just have to remember that. An hope for the best.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Cntry

You just have to love when it does that. I think everything gets sick from time to time. We just have to remember that. An hope for the best.

Yeah. Laziness can be so good. If I were efficient, I would have thrown them out.

[Cntry]

Originally Posted by bil

Yeah. Laziness can be so good. If I were efficient, I would have thrown them out.

I am glad you didn't throw them out into a compost pile somewhere. Now you have a nice orchid that will bloom for you and make you happy one day.

[bil]

We have a black fig tree. It just wasn't giving fruit, so that autumn I was standing under the tree with my OH and I said "If this damn thing doesn't fruit next year, I am cutting it down for firewood."
The next year and every year since, it has fruited magnificently.

The laziness angle does work tho. Several times with non orchids, I have given up on a plant, put it near the compost, but never got round to taking it the final ten yards. Sure enough, the threat has induced rapid growth....

[Cntry]

Originally Posted by bil

We have a black fig tree. It just wasn't giving fruit, so that autumn I was standing under the tree with my OH and I said "If this damn thing doesn't fruit next year, I am cutting it down for firewood."
The next year and every year since, it has fruited magnificently.

The laziness angle does work tho. Several times with non orchids, I have given up on a plant, put it near the compost, but never got round to taking it the final ten yards. Sure enough, the threat has induced rapid growth....

Its funny to think just a little threat works at times. YOU BIG Meany lol.... Just teasing ya.

[bil]

Originally Posted by Cntry

Its funny to think just a little threat works at times. YOU BIG Meany lol.... Just teasing ya.

It wasn't a little threat. FRUIT OR BURN!!

Here the joke is, that you plant something and the dialogue goes like this.

Please grow.
I don't want to.
Please grow.
I want to die.
No, please don't. Have water, lots of nice water.
I want to die.
No, here's some mulch.
I don't want to grow....I want to die...
No please, here's some fertiliser, please grow.
Shan't.
Screw you then, I wash my hands of you.

You then turn your back, and when you look back, the damn thing has taken over the garden and you need a team of machete wielders and a flame thrower to get it under control.

[Cntry]

Originally Posted by bil

It wasn't a little threat. FRUIT OR BURN!!

Here the joke is, that you plant something and the dialogue goes like this.

Please grow.
I don't want to.
Please grow.
I want to die.
No, please don't. Have water, lots of nice water.
I want to die.
No, here's some mulch.
I don't want to grow....I want to die...
No please, here's some fertiliser, please grow.
Shan't.
Screw you then, I wash my hands of you.

You then turn your back, and when you look back, the damn thing has taken over the garden and you need a team of machete wielders and a flame thrower to get it under control.

Boy that sounds like the grape vine that my neighbor started several years ago. Now its a pain in the ass and travels down the fence into my yard. Grows all over everything. Can I borrow your flame thrower please... lmao.