As Luck Would Have It

[Junebug]

My Rhycostylis gigantea 'Red' has grown so well this season. She's always been the picture of health and this summer she put out 2 keikis. To top it off, in late October, she popped out 3 spikes instead of the usual 2. I'm so proud of her efforts and I've been taking great precautions to make sure no harm would come to her beautiful spikes and buds. She's required extra protection this fall because I found a few weevils visiting her foliage and drooling over her buds. Weevils are nocturnal feeders and they're very hard to kill, so for protection I've been bringing the Rhynco indoors every night.

When Central Florida began having cold spells it was necessary to bring in all the chids indoors. Each time this happened I'd carefully position the Rynco for optimal indoor sun exposure and then return her and all the other chids to their usual growing positions as soon as the weather warmed.

Yesterday the temperatures were safe enough to return the plants outside and while I was at it I decided to give each one a dunk/drink in a large container of rainwater. The Rynco had a few aerial roots further up between the leaves and in an effort to wet those roots I pressed her a little deeper into the vessel. I was not thinking at the time about the backwards pressure effect of the water, and as luck would have it one of her 3 spikes got snapped off. Needless to say, this unfortunate mishap made my heart sink and brought tears to my eyes.